Those Celebrated Fruits, The
Mangosteen And The Durian, Are Natives Of This Region, And Will Hardly
Grow Out Of The Archipelago.
The mountain plants of Java have already
been alluded to as showing a former connexion with the continent of
Asia; and a still more extraordinary and more ancient connection
with Australia has been indicated by Mr. Low's collections from
the summit of Kini-balou, the loftiest mountain in Borneo.
Plants have much greater facilities for passing across arms of
the sea than animals. The lighter seeds are easily carried by the
winds, and many of them are specially adapted to be so carried.
Others can float a long tune unhurt in the water, and are drifted
by winds and currents to distant shores. Pigeons, and other
fruit-eating birds, are also the means of distributing plants,
since the seeds readily germinate after passing through their
bodies. It thus happens that plants which grow on shores and
lowlands have a wide distribution, and it requires an extensive
knowledge of the species of each island to determine the
relations of their floras with any approach to accuracy. At
present we have no such complete knowledge of the botany of
the several islands of the Archipelago; and it is only by such
striking phenomena as the occurrence of northern and even
European genera on the summits of the Javanese mountains that we
can prove the former connection of that island with the Asiatic
continent. With land animals, however, the case is very
different. Their means of passing a wide expanse of sea are far
more restricted. Their distribution has been more accurately
studied, and we possess a much more complete knowledge of such
groups as mammals and birds in most of the islands, than we do of
the plants. It is these two classes which will supply us with
most of our facts as to the geographical distribution of
organized beings in this region.
The number of Mammalia known to inhabit the Indo-Malay region is
very considerable, exceeding 170 species. With the exception of
the bats, none of these have any regular means of passing arms of
the sea many miles in extent, and a consideration of their
distribution must therefore greatly assist us in determining
whether these islands have ever been connected with each other or
with the continent since the epoch of existing species.
The Quadrumana or monkey tribe form one of the most
characteristic features of this region. Twenty-four distinct
species are known to inhabit it, and these are distributed with
tolerable uniformity over the islands, nine being found in Java,
ten in the Malay peninsula, eleven in Sumatra, and thirteen in
Borneo. The great man-like Orangutans are found only in Sumatra
and Borneo; the curious Siamang (next to them in size) in Sumatra
and Malacca; the long-nosed monkey only in Borneo; while every
island has representatives of the Gibbons or long-armed apes, and
of monkeys. The lemur-like animals, Nycticebus, Tarsius, and
Galeopithecus, are found on all the islands.
Seven species found on the Malay peninsula extend also into
Sumatra, four into Borneo, and three into Java; while two range
into Siam and Burma, and one into North India. With the
exception of the Orangutan, the Siamang, the Tarsius spectrum,
and the Galeopithecus, all the Malayan genera of Quadrumana are
represented in India by closely allied species, although, owing
to the limited range of most of these animals, so few are
absolutely identical.
Of Carnivora, thirty-three species are known from the Indo-Malay
region, of which about eight are found also in Burma and India.
Among these are the tiger, leopard, a tiger-cat, civet, and
otter; while out of the twenty genera of Malayan Carnivora,
thirteen are represented in India by more or less closely allied
species. As an example, the Malayan bear is represented in North
India by the Tibetan bear, both of which may be seen alive at the
Zoological Society's Gardens.
The hoofed animals are twenty-two in number, of which about seven
extend into Burmahand India. All the deer are of peculiar
species, except two, which range from Malacca into India. Of the
cattle, one Indian species reaches Malacca, while the Bos sondiacus
of Java and Borneo is also found in Siam and Burma. A goat-like animal
is found in Sumatra which has its representative in India; while the
two-horned rhinoceros of Sumatra and the single-horned species of
Java, long supposed to be peculiar to these islands, are now both
ascertained to exist in Burma, Pegu, and Moulmein. The elephant of
Sumatra, Borneo, and Malacca is now considered to be identical with
that of Ceylon and India.
In all other groups of Mammalia the same general phenomena recur.
A few species are identical with those of India. A much larger
number are closely allied or representative forms, while there
are always a small number of peculiar genera, consisting of
animals unlike those found in any other part of the world. There
are about fifty bats, of which less than one-fourth are Indian
species; thirty-four Rodents (squirrels, rats, &c.), of which six
or eight only are Indian; and ten Insectivora, with one exception
peculiar to the Malay region. The squirrels are very abundant
and characteristic, only two species out of twenty-five extending
into Siam and Burma. The Tupaias are curious insect-eaters,
which closely resemble squirrels, and are almost confined to the
Malay islands, as,are the small feather-tailed Ptilocerus lowii
of Borneo, and the curious long-snouted and naked-tailed Gymnurus
rafllesii.
As the Malay peninsula is a part of the continent of Asia, the
question of the former union of the islands to the mainland will
be best elucidated by studying the species which are found in the
former district, and also in some of the islands. Now, if we
entirely leave out of consideration the bats, which have the
power of flight, there are still forty-eight species of mammals
common to the Malay peninsula and the three large islands.
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