280 



NATURAL UISTOR}' [chap, xvni. 



These large and well-known families well represent the 

 general character of the zoology of Celebes ; and they 

 show that this island is really one of the most isolated 

 portions of the Areliipelago, although situated in its very 

 centre. 



But the insects of Celebes present us with other pheno- 

 mena more curious and m<3redif!icult to explain than their 

 striking individuality. The butterflies of that island are 

 in many cases characterised by a peculiarity of outline, 

 which distinguishes them at a glance from those of any 

 other part of the world. It is most strongly manifested in 

 the PapOios and the Pieridte, and consists in the fore- 

 wings being either strongly curved or abruptly bent near 

 the base, or in the extremity being elongated and often 

 somewhat booked. Out of the 14 species of Papilio in 

 Celebes, 13 exhibit this peculiarity in a greater or less 

 degree, when compared with the most nearly allied species 

 of the surrounding islands. Ten species of Pieridse have 

 the same character, and in four or five of the Nymphalidaft 

 it is also very distinctly marked. In almost every case 

 the species found in Celebes are much larger than those of 

 the islands westward, and at least equal to those of the 

 Moluccas, or even larger. The difference of form is how- 

 ever the most remai'kable feature, as it is altogether a new 

 thing for a whole set of species in one country, to differ in 

 exactly the same way from the corresponding sets in all 

 the surrounding countries ; and it is so well marked, that 

 without looking at the details of colouring, most Celebes 

 Papilios and many Pieridaj, can be at once distinguished 

 from those of other islands by their form alone. 



The outside figure of each pair here given, shows the 

 exact size and form of the fore-mng in a butterfly of 

 Celebes, while the inner one represents tlie most closely 

 allied species from one of tlie adjacent islands. Figure 1 

 shows the strongly curved margin of the Celebes species, 

 I'apilio gigon, compared with the much straighter margin 

 of Papilio dernolion from Singapore and Java, Figure 2 

 shows the abrupt bend over the base of the wing in 

 Papilio miletus of Celebes compaied with the slight curva- 

 ture in the common Papilio sarpedon, which has almost 

 exactly the same form from India to New Guinea and 



