Out of 30 species inhabiting Celebes, 19
are peculiar, while Java (from which more species are known than
from Sumatra or Borneo), out of 37 species, has only 13 peculiar.
The Danaidae are large, but weak-flying butterflies, which
frequent forests and gardens, and are plainly but often very
richly coloured. Of these my own collection contains 16 species
from Celebes and 15 from Borneo; but whereas no less than 14 are
confined to the former island, only two are peculiar to the
latter. The Nymphalidae are a very extensive group, of generally
strong-winged and very bright-coloured butterflies, very abundant
in the tropics, and represented in our own country by our
Fritillaries, our Vanessas, and our Purple-emperor. Some months
ago I drew up a list of the Eastern species of this group,
including all the new ones discovered by myself, and arrived at
the following comparative results: -
Species of Species peculiar to Percentage
Nymphalidae. each island. of peculiar Species.
Java . . . . . 70 . . . . . . 23 . . . . . . . . . . 33
Borneo . . . . 52 . . . . . . 15 . . . . . . . . . . 29
Celebes . . . 48 . . . . . . 35 . . . . . . . . . . 73
The Coleoptera are so extensive that few of the groups have yet
been carefully worked out. I will therefore refer to one only,
which I have myself recently studied - the Cetoniadae or Rose-
chafers - a group of beetles which, owing to their extreme
beauty, have been much sought after. From Java 37 species of
these insects are known, and from Celebes only 30; yet only 13,
or 35 percent, are peculiar to the former island, and 19, or 63
percent, to the latter.
The result of these comparisons is, that although Celebes is a
single, large island with only a few smaller ones closely grouped
around it, we must really consider it as forming one of the great
divisions of the Archipelago, equal in rank and importance to the
whole of the Moluccan or Philippine groups, to the Papuan
islands, or to the Indo-Malay islands (Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and
the Malay peninsula). Taking those families of insects and birds
which are best known, the following table shows the comparison of
Celebes with the other groups of islands: -
PAPILIONIDAE AND HAWKS, PARROTS, AND
PERIDAE PIGEONS.
Percent of peculiar Percent of peculiar
Species. Species.
Indo-Malay region . . . . 56 . . . . . . . . . . 54
Philippine group . . . . 66 . . . . . . . . . . 73
Celebes . . . . . . . . . 69 . . . . . . . . . . 60
Moluccan group . . . . . 52 . . . . . . . . . . 62
Timor group . . . . . . . 42 . . . . . . . . . . 47
Papuan group . . . . . . 64 . . . . . . . . . . 74
These large and well-known families well represent the general
character of the zoology of Celebes; and they show that this
island is really one of the most isolated portions of the
Archipelago, although situated in its very centre.
But the insects of Celebes present us with other phenomena more
curious and more difficult to explain than their striking
individuality.
