culiar 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.
The butterflies of that island are in many cases characterised by a
peculiarity of outline, which distinguishes them at a glance from those
of any other part of the world. It is most strongly manifested in the
Papilios and the Pieridae, and consists in the forewings being either
strongly curved or abruptly bent near the base, or in the extremity
being elongated and often somewhat hooked. Out of the 14 species of
Papilio in Celebes, 13 exhibit this peculiarity in a greater or less
degree, when compared with the most nearly allied species of the
surrounding islands. Ten species of Pieridae have the same character,
and in four or five of the Nymphalidae it is also very distinctly
marked. In almost every case, the species found in Celebes are much
larger than thane of the islands westward, and at least equal to those
of the Moluccas, or even larger. The difference of form is, however, the
most remarkable feature, as it is altogether a new thing for a whole
set of species in one country to differ in exactly the same way from the
corresponding sets in all the surrounding countries; and it is so well
marked, that without looking at the details of colouring, most Celebes
Papilios and many Pieridae, can be at once distinguished from those of
other islands by their form alone.

The outside figure of each pair here given, shows the exact size and
form of the fore-wing in a butterfly of Celebes, while the inner one
represents the most closely allied species from one of the adjacent
islands. Figure 1 shows the strongly curved margin of the Celebes
species, Papilio gigon, compared with the much straighter margin of
Papilio demolion from Singapore and Java