The Malay Archipelago [pp. 479-495]

The Malay Archzipelago.
of some birds, yet to many land animals and many varieties of
birds, even a narrow channel of the sea forms an impassable
barrier. To illustrate what would be the case, supposing the
causes which are now in existence only to operate, let us take
Celebes, the strange-shaped island near the center of the Archipelago. From its position, separated only by a narrow intervening strait from Borneo, and surounded by other islands, and
with large indentations of the sea, and having comparatively
only a narrow breadth of land, it is admirably fitted to receive
the forms of life which exist in at least the neighboring islands.
But Mr. Wallace says it is the poorest of them all in the number
of its species, and the most isolated in the character of its productions (p. 277). Of the land birds there are one hundred and
twenty-eight different species. Of these twenty roam over the
whole Archipelago, leaving one hundred and eight species more
especially characteristic of the island. Of these only nine extend to the islands westward, and nineteen to the islands eastward, while no less than eighty are confined to Celebes. Of
these there are many which have no affinity with birds on the
nearer islands, but bear a close resemblance to those in such
distant regions as New Guinea, Australia, India or Africa.
The peculiar isolation of the fauna of this island Mr. Wallace
is disposed to account for by supposing that it is older land, or
was elevated above the surrounding ocean before the other
islands.
Whether this theory of subsidence of sea and elevation of
land, will answer all the necessities of the case, seems doubtful.
It might, if the types of animal and vegetable life were in all
respects similar to the mainland; but as they differ so radically
in many particulars, there is the necessity of accounting for the
isolated and peculiar forms of life.
In glancing at the questions here involved, we cannot adopt
the statements and conclusions of our author. As, for instance,
Mr. Wallace says: "Naturalists have now arrived at the conclusion that by some slow process of development or transmutation, all animals have been produced from those which preceded them; and the old notion that every species was specially
created as they now exist, at a particular time, and in a particular spot, is abandoned as opposed to many striking facts,
and unsupported by any evidence."*
* Geographical Distribution of Animals, Vol. I., p. 6
484
[July,