This would undoubtedly be a fatal objection, were there
not abundant evidence to show that Java has been
formerly connected with Asia, and that the union must
have occurred at about the epoch required. The most
striking proof of such a junction is, that the great Mammalia
of Java, the rhinoceros, the tiger, and the Banteng
or wild ox, occur also in Siam and Burmah, and these
would certainly not have been introduced by man. The
Javanese peacock and several other birds are also common
to these two countries; but, in the majority of cases, the
species are distinct, though closely allied, indicating that
a considerable time (required for such modification) has
elapsed since the separation, while it has not been so long’
as to cause an entire change. Now this exactly corresponds
with the time we should require since the
temperate forms of plants entered Java. These are
almost all now distinct species ; but the changed conditions
under which they are now forced to exist, and the probability
of some of them having since died; out on the con-
, tinent of India, sufficiently accounts for the Javanese
species being different.
In my more special pursuits, I had very little success
upon the mountain; owing, perhaps, to the excessively
unpropitious weather and the shortness of my stay. At
from 7,000 to 8,000 feet elevation, I obtained one of the
most lovely of the small fruit pigeons (Ptilonopus rosei
collis), whose entire head and neck are of an exquisite
rosy pink colour, contrasting finely with its otherwise
green plum'age; and on the very summit, feeding on the
around among the strawberries that o O have been planted
there, I obtained a dull-coloured thrush, with the form
and habits of a starling (Turdus fumidus). Insects were
almost entirely absent, owing no doubt to the extreme
dampness, and I did not get a single butterfly the Whole
trip I yet I feel sure that, during the dry season, a week’s
residence on this mountain would well repay the collector
in every department of natural history.
After my return to Toego, I endeavoured to find another
locality to collect in, and removed to a coffee-plantation
some miles to the north, and tried in succession higher
and lower stations on the mountain; but I never succeeded
in obtaining insects in any abundance, and birds
were far less plentiful than on the Megamendong Mountain.
The weather now became more rainy than ever,
and as the wet season seemed ta have set in in earnest,
I returned to Batavia, packed up and sent off my collections,
and left by steamer on November 1st for Banca
and Sumatra.