number of species collected by myself in some of the best localities. At Singapore 300 species of Coleoptera were collected in 15 days, and in a month the number had increased to 520; of which 100 were Longicorns and 140 Rhyncophora. At Sarawak in Borneo I obtained 400 species in 15 days, and 600 in a month. In two months this number had increased to about 850, and in three months to 1,000 species. This was the most prolific spot. I ever collected in, especially for Longicorns which formed about one-fifth of all the species of beetles. In the Aru Islands in one month, I obtained only 235 species of Coleoptera, and about 600 species of insects of all orders; and this may be taken as a fair average, in localities where no specially favourable conditions existed. On the average 40 to 60 species of Coleoptera would be a good day's collecting; 70 exceptionally good; while the largest number ever obtained in one day was 95, and the majority of these would be very minute insects. It must be remembered, however, that many very common species were passed over, yet had every species met with been collected, not much more than 100 species would ever have been obtained in one day's collecting of four or five hours. These details may afford an interesting standard of comparison for collectors in other parts of the world. Of Cicindelidæ the most peculiarly Malayan form is Therates, found always on leaves in the forests in the same localities as the more widely spread Collyris. Five genera of this family are Indo-Malayan. The Carabidae, though sufficiently plentiful, are mostly of small size, and not conspicuous in any way. But there is one striking exception in the purely Malayan genus Mormolyce, the largest and most remarkable of the whole family. It is nocturnal, resting during the days on the under side of large boleti in the virgin forest. Pericallus and Catascopus are among the few genera which are at all brillantly coloured. Buprestidæ are abundant, and very gay; the genus Belionota being perhaps one of the most conspicuous and characteristic. The giant Catoxantha is, however, the most peculiar, though comparatively scarce. Chrysochroa and Chalcophora are also abundant and characteristic. Out of the 41 Oriental genera 21 are Malayan, and 10 of these are not found in the other subregions. In Lucanidæ the Malay islands are rich, 14 out of the 16 Oriental genera occurring there, and 3 being peculiar. There are many fine species of Odontolabris, which may be considered the characteristic genus of the sub-region. The Cetoniidæ are well represented by 16 genera and about 120 species. The genera Mycteristes, Phædimus, Plectrone, Euremina, Rhagopteryx and Centrognathus are peculiar, while Agestrata, Chalcothea, and Macronota are abundant and characteristic. The Longicorns, as in all continental forest regions near the equator, are very abundant and in endlessly varied forms. No less than 55 genera containing about 200 species are peculiar to this sub-region, the Cerambycidæ being much the most numerous. Euryarthrum, Cælosterna, Agelasta, and Astathes may be considered as most characteristic; but to name the curious and interesting forms would be to give a list of half the genera. For the relations of the Longicorns of the Indo-Malay, and those of the Austro-Malay region, the reader is referred to the chapter on the distribution of insects in the succeeding part of this work. Terrestrial Mollusca.-The Philippine islands are celebrated as being one of the richest parts of the world for land shells, about 400 species being known. The other islands of the subregion are far less rich, not more than about 100 species having yet been described from the whole of them. Helix and Bulimus both abound in species in the Philippines, whereas the latter genus is very scarce in Borneo and Java. Ten genera of Helicidæ inhabit the sub-region; Pfeifferia is found in the Philippines and Moluccas, while the large genus Cochlostyla is almost peculiar to the Philippines. Of the Operculata there are representatives of 20 genera, of which Dermatoma and Pupinella are peculiar, while Registoma and Callia extend to the Australian region. Cyclophorus, Leptopoma, and Pupina are perhaps the most characteristic genera. The Zoological Relations of the Several Islands of the Indo-Malay Sub-region. Although we have grouped the Philippine islands with the Indo-Malay sub-region, to which, as we shall see, they undoubtedly belong, yet most of the zoological characteristics we have just sketched out, apply more especially to the other groups of islands and the Malay peninsula. The Philippine islands stand, to Malaya proper, in the same relation that Madagascar does to Africa or the Antilles to South America; that is, they are remarkable for the absence of whole families and genera which everywhere characterise the remainder of the district. They are, in fact, truly insular, while the other islands are really continental in all the essential features of their natural history. Before, therefore, we can conveniently compare the separate islands of Malaya1 with each other, we must first deal with the Philippine group, showing in what its speciality consists, and why it must be considered apart from the sub-region to which it belongs. Mammals of the Philippine Islands. The only mammalia recorded as inhabiting the Philippine Islands are the following: QUADRUMANA. 1. Macacus cynomolgus. 2. Cynopithecus niger. Dr. Semper doubts this being a Philippine species. LEMUROIDEA. 3. Tarsius spectrum. INSECTIVORA. 4. Galeopithecus philippinensis. 5. Tupaia (species). On Dr. Semper's authority. CARNIVORA. 6. Viverra tangalunga. 7. Paradoxurus philippensis. UNGULATA. 8. Sus (species). On Dr. Semper's authority. 9. Cervus mariannus. 10. Cervus philippensis. 11. Cervus alfredi. 12. Bos (species). RODENTIA. Wild cattle; perhaps introduced. 13. Phlæomys cummingii. 14. Scuirus philippinensis. Also 24 species, belonging to 17 genera, of bats. 1 As so many typical Malay groups are absent only from the Philippines, I have adopted the term "Malaya," to show the distribution of these, using the term "Indo-Malaya" when the range of the group includes the Philippines. This must be remembered when consulting the tables of distribution at the end of this chapter. VOL. I.-24 The foregoing list, although small, contains an assemblage of species which are wholly Oriental in character, and several of which (Tarsius, Galeopithecus, Tupaia) are characteristic and highly peculiar Malayan forms. At the same time these islands are completely separated from the rest of Malaya by the total absence of Semnopithecus, Hylobates, Felis, Helarctos, Rhinoceros, Manis, and other groups constantly found in the great IndoMalay islands and peninsula of Malacca. We find apparently two sets of animals: a more ancient series, represented by the deer, Galeopithecus, and squirrel, in which the species are distinct from any others; and a more recent series, represented by Macacus cynomolgus, and Viverra tangalunga, identical with common Malayan animals. The former indicate the earliest period when these volcanic islands were connected with some part of the Malayan sub-region, and they show that this was not geologically remote, since no peculiar generic types have been preserved or differentiated. The latter may indicate either the termination of the period of union, or merely the effects of introduction by man. The reason why a larger number of mammalian forms were not introduced and established, was probably because the union was effected only with some small islands, and from these communicated to other parts of the archipelago; or it may well be that later subsidences extinguished some of the forms that had established themselves. Birds of the Philippine Islands.-These have been carefully investigated by Viscount Walden, in a paper read before the Zoological Society of London in 1873, and we are thus furnished with ample information on the relations of this important portion of the fauna. The total number of birds known to inhabit the Philippines is 219, of which 106 are peculiar. If, however, following our usual plan, we take only the land-birds, we find the numbers to be 159 species, of which 100 are peculiar; an unusually large proportion for a group of islands so comparatively near to various parts of the Oriental and Australian regions. The families of birds which are more especially characteristic of the Indo-Malay sub-region are about 28 in number, and examples of all these are found in the Philippines except four, viz., Cinclidæ, Phyllornithidæ, Eurylæmidæ, and Podargidæ. The only Philippine families which are, otherwise, exclusively AustroMalayan are, Cacatuida and Megapodiidæ. Yet although the birds are unmistakably Malayan, as a whole, there are, as in the mammalia (though in a less degree), marked deficiencies of most characteristic Malayan forms. Lord Walden gives a list of no less than 69 genera thus absent; but it will be sufficient here to mention such wide-spread and specially Indo-Malay groups as,-Eurylamus, Nyctiornis, Arachnothera, Geocichla, Malacopteron, Timalia, Pomatorhinus, Phyllornis, Iora, Criniger, Enicurus, Chaptia, Tchitrea, Dendrocitta, Eulabes, Palæornis, Miglyptes, Tiga, and Euplocamus. These deficiencies plainly show the isolated character of the Philippine group, and imply that it has never formed a part of that Indo-Malayan extension of the continent which almost certainly existed when the peculiar Malayan fauna was developed; or that, if it has been so united, it has been subsequently submerged and broken up to such an extent, as to cause the extinction of many of the absent types. It appears from Lord Walden's careful analysis, that 31 of the Philippine species occur in the Papuan sub-region, and 47 in Celebes; 69 occur also in India, and 75 in Java. This last fact is curious, since Java is the most remote of the Malayan islands, but it is found to arise almost wholly from the birds of that island being better known, since only one species, Xantholæma rosea, is confined to the Philippine Islands and Java. The wading and swimming birds are mostly of wide-spread forms, only 6 out of the 60 species being peculiar to the Philippine archipelago. Confining ourselves to the land-birds, and combining several of the minutely subdivided genera of Lord Walden's paper so as to agree with the arrangement adopted in this work, we find that there are 112 genera of land-birds represented in the islands. Of these, 50 are either cosmopolitan, of wide range, or common to the Oriental and Australian regions, and may be put aside as affording few indications of geographical affinity. Of the remaining 62 no less than 40 are exclusively |
