CHAP. XX 



CELEBES 



4556 



considerably more than in Borneo, but not quite so 

 much as in the more isolated Philippines. The non- 

 peculiar species are all or nearly all found also in the 

 Sunda Islands or the Asiatic continent ; but among 

 the peculiar forms there are two marsupials and several 

 of the mice which must have been derived from the 

 Australian region. The majority of the peculiar species 

 are also either of Malayan or continental derivation, but 

 several of them are so distinct from any known animals 

 as to indicate a very remote origin. 



Among the interesting features of this list we may 

 note the following: (1) Its extreme poverty; for although 

 all the orders are represented, the few Insectivora and 

 Carnivora consist of small species which are all but one 

 natives of the adjacent countries, some of which may 

 have been introduced by man. (2) It is only among 

 the arboreal rodents that there is a fuller repre- 

 sentation of forms, and among these a large proportion 

 are peculiar species, indicating their introduction by 

 natural agencies and a considerable antiquity. (3) The 

 presence of peculiar species of monkeys and squirrels 

 which here reach their farthest extension in the eastern 

 tropics. (4) The presence also of two peculiar species of 

 Marsupials of Papuan type which here reach their 

 farthest western extension. 



But besides these indications of isolation and antiquity 

 Celebes possesses three remarkable animals, all of large 

 size and not closely allied to anything found in the Malay 

 Islands or even in Asia. These are a black and almost 

 tailless baboon-like ape (Cpiopithcus niger) ; an ante- 

 lopean buffalo (Anoa depressicornis), and the strange 

 babirusa (Bahirus alfurus). 



Not only have these three animals no close allies else- 

 where, but they are all peculiar genera, and their presence 

 in Celebes may be considered the crucial fact which must 

 give us the clue to the past history of the island. Let 

 us then see what they teach us. The ape is apparently 

 somewhat intermediate between the great baboons of 

 Africa and the short-tailed macaques of Asia, but its 

 cranium shows a nearer approach to the former group, in 



