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 upon the origin of the Timorese fauna
because it appears to be 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, 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 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 Papilionidae 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 seen allied to those of the
Moluccas and Celebes.
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