424 
ZOOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
[part hi 
Moluccas (with New Guinea and Celebes,) Australia, and Java. 
The Moluecan forms may well have arrived as stragglers from 
island to island, aided by whatever facilities have been afforded 
by lands now submerged. Most of the remainder have been de- 
rived either from Australia or from Java; and as their relations 
to these islands are very interesting, they must be discussed 
with some detail. 
Origin of the Timorese Fauna. — We must first note, that 80 
species, or exactly one-half of the land-birds of the islands, are 
peculiar and mostly very distinct, intimating that the immigra- 
tion commenced long enough back to allow of much specific 
modification. There is also one peculiar genus of kingfishers, 
Cariclonax , found only in Lombok and Flores, and more allied 
to Australian than to Oriental types. The fine wliite-banded 
pigeons (s. g. Leucotreron) are also almost peculiar ; one other 
less typical species only being known, a native of N. Celebes. 
In order to compare the species with regard to their origin, we 
must first take away those of wide distribution from which no 
special indications can be obtained. In this case 49 of the land- 
birds must be deducted, leaving 111 species which afford good 
materials for comparison. These, when traced to their origin, 
show that 62 came from some part of the Australian region, 49 
from Java or the Oriental region. But if we divide them into 
two groups, the one containing the species identical with those 
of the Australian or Oriental regions, the other containing allied 
or representative species peculiar to the islands, we liave the fol- 
lowing result : 
Species common to the Timorese Islands and the Oriental Region 30 
Peculiar Timorese species allied to those of the, Oriental Region 19 
Total 49 
Species common to the Timorese Islands and the Australian 
Region ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 18 
Peculiar Timorese species allied to those of the Australian Region 44 
Total 62 
This table is very important, as indicating that the connection 
