INTRODUCTION. 
I. ZOO-GEOGRAPHICAL. 
Although the term Malaysia was used by several zoologists in the 
nineteenth century only F. H. H. Guile EM ard 1 * seems to have 
employed it in a systematic sense, and he for the vast region extending 
from Sumatra to the Philippines and Moluccas, "the home of the true 
Malay race". 
In 1918 3 C. Boden Kloss introduced and defined Malaysia in a 
formal manner as a sub-region of the Oriental Region,— 
"Malaysian — pertaining to the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, 
Borneo and Java, Malayan — pertaining to the Malay Peninsula, 
c,f. Sumatran, etc." 
To the faunist this restricted Malaysia is more homogeneous than 
the larger sub-region, Indo-Malaya of Wallace, within which the 
Philippines 3 provide a sharp division against the Malay Peninsula and 
Sunda Islands. 
The exact boundaries of a zoo-geographical zone must always be 
of an arbitrary nature and as it is obvious that such a zone is basically 
physiographical, rather than zoological, it is reasonable to try to fix 
its natural boundaries with regard to geographical facts "and when 
zoological appearances do not agree with geographical ones to regard 
the former as anomalous and endeavour to explain them". 4 
A basic, or physiographical Malaysia can soon be defined as all 
land standing on the Sunda Shelf below about Lat. io° N. It is an 
area in which the sea-depths are less than one-hundred and usually 
less than forty fathoms : it leaps to the eye from a bathymetrical map. 
As a zoo-geographical zone of any kind, however, the unmodified 
Sunda Shelf is not satisfactory and it needs modifications on zoological 
and geographical grounds, as well as on those of expediency. 
For instance, the Malaysian avifauna extends on the western 
side of the Peninsula to about the latitude of Tavoy and the northern 
boundary of the sub-region ought to be extended thence. A similar 
1 “Australasia”, ii, 1804. p. 2 . 
a Journ, F.M.S. Mus. vii, 1918, p. 245, 
3 Excluding the Palawan group and Sibutu, tbe Philippine Islands lie 
outside the ioo fathom line. Their fauna is poor compared with that of 
Malaysia. It lacks many Malaysian genera, but on the other hand includer 
many peculiar forms. 
* C. Boden KIoss, “The Zoo-geographical Boundaries between Asia 
and Australia and some Oriental Sub- Regions”, Bull. Raffles. Mus., 2, 
p. 1. 
