CELEBES 
285 
singular animals should have been preserved in Celebes 
and nowhere else. And, lastly, we have the marsupial 
cuscus, indicating that the island has received some of 
its productions from the Moluccas or New Guinea, where 
alone these animals abound; and we have also two forest 
rats of the sub-genus G-ymnomys, which are allied to 
Australian species. 
Turning to the birds, we find facts of equal interest; 
and, considering how easy it is for this class to pass over 
narrow seas, even more extraordinary. There are now 
about 160 species of land-birds known from Celebes, 
belonging to 124 generic groups. About 90 of these 
species are peculiar to it and the small adjacent islands; 
while, of the remainder, about 50 come from the Asiatic 
and 2 0 from the Australian side. This is what we might 
expect, looking at the great extent of the opposing coasts 
of Borneo, which are much richer in birds than the 
Moluccas. The peculiar species of Celebes are generally 
related to birds characteristic of one side or the other, 
and in this way also we find the Asiatic side preponderat¬ 
ing in the proportion of 24 to 15. But if we look at the 
number of genera of land-birds, abundant in Borneo or 
the Moluccas, which are absent from Celebes, we find the 
most striking deficiency on the Bornean or Asiatic side. 
Thus, 8 important families, and 16 genera which are 
highly characteristic of Borneo or Java are unknown in 
Celebes; while of the Moluccan groups of equal import¬ 
ance there are only 1 family and 12 genera absent. 
These remarkable deficiencies, quite as much as the 
species it actually possesses, stamp the character of the 
Celebesian fauna, and give a clue to its past history. 
Of the land mollusca we have as yet but scanty 
knowledge. Such genera as are known are for the most 
part found also in Borneo and Sumatra, but Planispira 
