n over a large part of
the Archipelago. 3. Felis megalotis; a tiger cat, said to be peculiar
to Timor, where it exists only in the interior, and is very rare. Its
nearest allies are in Java. 4. Cervus timoriensis; a deer, closely
allied to the Javan and Moluccan species, if distinct. 5. A wild pig,
Sus timoriensis; perhaps the same as some of the Moluccan species. 6.
A shrew mouse, Sorex tenuis; supposed to be peculiar to Timor. 7. An
Eastern opossum, Cuscus orientalis; found also in the Moluccas, if not a
distinct species.

The fact that not one of these species is Australia or nearly allied to
any Australian form, is strongly corroborative of the opinion that Timor
has never formed a part of that country; as in that case some kangaroo
or other marsupial animal would almost certainly be found there. It is
no doubt very difficult to account for the presence of some of the few
mammals that do exist in Timor, especially the tiger cat and the deer.
We must consider, however, that during thousands, and perhaps hundreds
of thousands of years, these islands and the seas between them have
been subjected to volcanic action. The land has been raised and has sunk
again; the straits have been narrowed or widened; many of the islands
may have been joined and dissevered again; violent floods have again and
again devastated the mountains and plains, carrying out to sea hundreds
of forest trees, as has often happened during volcanic eruptions in
Java; and it does not seem improbable that once in a thousand, or ten
thousand years, there should have occurred such a favourable combination
of circumstances as would lead to the migration of two or three land
animals from one island to another. This is all that we need ask to
account for the very scanty and fragmentary group of Mammalia which now
inhabit the large island of Timor. The deer may very probably have been
introduced by man, for the Malays often keep tame fawns; and it may
not require a thousand, or even five hundred years, to establish new
characters in an animal removed to a country so different in climate and
vegetation as is Timor from the Moluccas. I have not mentioned horses,
which are often thought to be 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 upon the origin of the Timorese fauna
bec