a country so different in climate and vegetation as is
Timor from the Moluccas. I have not mentioned horses,
which are often thought to he wild in Timor, because
there are no grounds whatever for such a belief. The Timor
ponies have every one an owner, and are quite as much
domesticated animals as the cattle on a South American
hacienda.
I have dwelt at some length on the origin of the
Timorese fauna, because it appears to me a most interesting
and instructive problem. It is very seldom that we
can trace the animals of a district so clearly as we can
in this case, to two definite sources; and still more rarely
that they furnish such decisive evidence, of the time, and
the manner, and the proportions of their introduction.
We have here a group of Oceanic Islands in miniature—
islands which have never formed part of the adjacent
lands, although so closely approaching them; and their
productions have the characteristics of true Oceanic Islands
slightly modified. These characteristics are, the absence
of all Mammalia except bats, and the occurrence of
peculiar species of birds, insects, and land shells, which,
though found nowhere else, are plainly related to those
of the nearest land. Thus, we have an entire absence of
Australian mammals, and the presence of only a few stragglers
from the west, which can be accounted for in the
manner already indicated. Bats are tolerably abundant.
Birds have many peculiar species, with a decided relationship
to those of the two nearest masses of land. The
insects have similar relations with the birds. As an example,
four species of the Papilionidse are peculiar to
Timor, three others are also found in Java, and one in
Australia. Of the four peculiar species two are decided
modifications of Javanese forms, while the others seem
allied to those of the Moluccas and Celebes. The very few
land shells known are all, curiously enough, allied to or
identical with Moluccan or Celebes forms. The Pieridge
(white and yellow butterflies) which wander more, and
from frequenting open grounds are more liable to be blown
out to sea, seem about equally related to those of Java,
Australia, and the Moluccas.
It has been objected to Mr. Darwin’s theory,—of Oceanic
Islands having never been connected with the mainland,
that this would imply that their animal population was a
matter of chance; it has been termed the “flotsam and
jetsam theory,” and it has been maintained that nature
does not work by the “ chapter of accidents.” But in the
case which I have here described, we have the most positive
evidence that such has been the mode of peopling the
islands. Their productions are of that miscellaneous character
which we should expect from such an origin; and
to suppose that they have been portions of Australia or ot
Java will introduce perfectly gratuitous difficulties, and