458 



ISLAND LIFE 



PART II 



been found in each of them. In order not to exaggerat^the 

 peculiarities of the Celebesian fauna, I shall here only take 

 notice of what Messrs. Meyer and Wigglesworth consider to 

 be distinct species, omitting the numerous sub-species or 

 varieties which they have given as peculiar in their lists. 



In discussing the chief features of Celebes as a zoo- 

 geographical area or province, we must of course include the 

 various islets which surround it, and which at one time or 

 another have probably formed parts of it. But it is also 

 interesting to consider the main island and its dependent 

 islets separately, since each has peculiar features and 

 relations of much interest from the evolutionary standpoint. 



The land-birds of the whole Celebesian area now known 

 amount to 289 species, and no less than 170 of these are 

 peculiar to it, giving a proportion of three-fifths. This is 

 a much larger proportion than in Borneo, but considerably 

 less than in the Philippines, where nearly three-fourths are 

 peculiar. But if we consider how closely Celebes is sur- 

 rounded by Borneo, Java and the Moluccas, its amount of 

 speciality is even more remarkable than in the last named 

 islands, which are not only very much more extensive but 

 are also much more isolated. 



Taking the main island of Celebes by itself, we find that 

 it has 207 species, of which 114 are peculiar, a proportion 

 somewhat smaller than that of the whole group, due to 

 the fact that of the species in the Celebesian islets which 

 are not found in the main island, a considerably larger 

 proportion (more than two-thirds) are peculiar. When we 

 consider the birds of the Celebesian group with regard 

 to their affinities and probable origin, we find a very 

 curious and suggestive difference between Celebes proper 

 and its surrounding islets. Omitting all the species which 

 have a very wide distribution and may have entered 

 the island from either the west or the east, and omitting 

 also those whose only near allies are in the Philippines, 

 since most of these have probably entered those islands 

 from Celebes, we find that about 20 of the peculiar species 

 of the main island have been derived from the Australian 

 region, while about 30 must have entered the island from 

 the Oriental region. And the species which are identical 



