CHAPTER XX. 



ANOMALOUS ISLANDS : CELEBES. 



Anomalous relations of Celebes— Physical features of the Island — Zoo- 

 logical character of the Islands around Celebes — The Malayan and 

 Australian Banks — Zoology of Celebes : Mammalia — Probable derivation 

 of the Mammals of Celebes— Birds of Celebes — Bird-types peculiar to 

 Celebes — Celebes not strictly a Continental Island — Peculiarities of 

 the Insects of Celebes — Himalayan types of Birds and Butterflies in 

 Celebes — Peculiarities of shape and colour of Celebesian Butterflies — 

 Concluding Remarks — Appendix on the Birds of Celebes. 



The only other islands of the globe which can be classed as 

 ''ancient continental" are the larger Antilles (Cuba, Haiti, 

 Jamaica, and Porto Kico), Iceland, and perhaps Celebes. The 

 Antilles have been so fully discussed and illustrated in my 

 former work, and there is so little fresh information about 

 them, that I do not propose to treat of them here, especially 

 as they fall short of Madagascar in all points of biological 

 interest, and offer no problems of a different character from 

 such as have already been sufficiently explained. 



Iceland, also, must apparently be classed as belonging to the 

 " Ancient Continental Islands," for though usually described as 

 wholly volcanic, it is, more probably, an island of varied geolo- 

 gical structure buried under the lavas of its numerous volcanoes. 

 But of late years extensive Tertiary deposits of Miocene age 

 have been discovered, showing that it is not a mere congeries of 

 volcanoes ; it is connected with the British Islands and with 

 Greenland by seas less than 500 fathoms deep; and it possesses 

 a few mammalia, one of which is peculiar, and at least three 

 peculiar species of birds. It was therefore almost certainly 



