THE position of Celebes is the most central in the Archipelago.
Immediately to the north are the Philippine islands; on the west is
Borneo; on the east are the Molucca islands; and on the south is the
Timor group--and it is on all sides so connected with these islands by
its own satellites, by small islets, and by coral reefs, that neither by
inspection on the map nor by actual observation around its coast, is it
possible to determine accurately which should be grouped with it, and
which with the surrounding districts. Such being the case, we should
naturally expect to find that the productions of this central island
in some degree represented the richness and variety of the whole
Archipelago, while we should not expect much individuality in a country,
so situated, that it would seem as if it were pre-eminently fitted to
receive stragglers and immigrants from all around.
As so often happens in nature, however, the fact turns out to be just
the reverse of what we should have expected; and an examination of its
animal productions shows Celebes to be at once the poorest in the
number of its species, and the most isolated in the character of its
productions, of all the great islands in the Archipelago. With its
attendant islets it spreads over an extent of sea hardly inferior in
length and breadth to that occupied by Borneo, while its actual land
area is nearly double that of Java; yet its Mammalia and terrestrial
birds number scarcely more than half the species found in the last-named
island. Its position is such that it could receive immigrants from every
side more readily than Java, yet in proportion to the species which
inhabit it, far fewer seem derived from other islands, while far more
are altogether peculiar to it; and a considerable number of its animal
forms are so remarkable, as to find no close allies in any other part of
the world. I now propose to examine the best known groups of Celebesian
animals in some detail, to study their relations to those of other
islands, and to call attention to the many points of interest which they
suggest.
We know far more of the birds of Celebes than we do of any other group
of animals. No less than 191 species have been discovered, and though
no doubt, many more wading and swimming birds have to be added; yet the
list of land birds, 144 in number, and which for our present purpose
are much the most important, must be very nearly complete. I myself
assiduously collected birds in Celebes for nearly ten months, and my
assistant, Mr. Allen, spent two months in the Sula islands. The Dutch
naturalist Forsten spent two years in Northern Celebes (twenty years
before my visit), and collections of birds had also been sent to Holland
from Macassar. The French ship of discovery, L'Astrolabe, also touched
at Menado and procured collections. Since my return home, the Dutch
naturalists Rosenberg and Bernstein have made extensive collections
both in North Celebes and in the Sula islands; yet all their researches
combined have only added eight species of land birds to those forming
part of my own collection--a fact which renders it almost certain that
there are very few more to discover.
Besides Salayer and Boutong on the south, with Peling and Bungay on the
east, the three islands of the Sula (or Zula) Archipelago also belong
zoologically to Celebes, although their position is such that it would
seem more natural to group them with the Moluccas. About 48 land birds
are now known from the Sula group, and if we reject from these, five
species which have a wide range over the Archipelago, the remainder are
much more characteristic of Celebes than of the Moluccas. Thirty-one
species are identical with those of the former island, and four are
representatives of Celebes forms, while only eleven are Moluccan
species, and two more representatives.
But although the Sula islands belong to Celebes, they are so close to
Bouru and the southern islands of the Gilolo group, that several purely
Moluccan forms have migrated there, which are quite unknown to the
island of Celebes itself; the whole thirteen Moluccan species being
in this category, thus adding to the productions of Celebes a
foreign element which does not really belong to it. In studying the
peculiarities of the Celebesian fauna, it will therefore be well to
consider only the productions of the main island.
The number of land birds in the island of Celebes is 128, and from these
we may, as before, strike out a small number of species which roam
over the whole Archipelago (often from India to the Pacific), and
which therefore only serve to disguise the peculiarities of individual
islands. These are 20 in number, and leave 108 species which we may
consider as more especially characteristic of the island. On accurately
comparing these with the birds of all the surrounding countries, we find
that only nine extend into the islands westward, and nineteen into the
islands eastward, while no less than 80 are entirely confined to the
Celebesian fauna--a degree of individuality which, considering the
situation of the island, is hardly to be equalled in any other part of
the world. If we still more closely examine these 80 species, we shall
be struck by the many peculiarities of structure they present, and by
the curious affinities with distant parts of the world which many
of them seem to indicate. These points are of so much interest and
importance that it will be necessary to pass in review all those species
which are peculiar to the island, and to call attention to whatever is
most worthy of remark.
Six species of the Hawk tribe are peculiar to Celebes; three of these
are very distinct from allied birds which range over all India to Java
and Borneo, and which thus seem to be suddenly changed on entering
Celebes. Another (Accipiter trinotatus) is a beautiful hawk, with
elegant rows of large round white spots on the tail, rendering it very
conspicuous and quite different from any other known bird of the family.
Three owls are also peculiar; and one, a barn owl (Strix rosenbergii),
is very much larger and stronger than its ally Strix javanica, which
ranges from India through all the islands as far as Lombock.
Of the ten Parrots found in Celebes, eight are peculiar. Among them are
two species of the singular racquet-tailed parrots forming the genus
Prioniturus, and which are characterised by possessing two long
spoon-shaped feathers in the tail. Two allied species are found in the
adjacent island of Mindanao, one of the Philippines, and this form of
tail is found in no other parrots in the whole world. A small species of
Lorikeet (Trichoglossus flavoviridis) seems to have its nearest ally in
Australia.
The three Woodpeckers which inhabit the island are all peculiar, and are
allied to species found in Java and Borneo, although very different from
them all.
Among the three peculiar Cuckoos, two are very remarkable. Phoenicophaus
callirhynchus is the largest and handsomest species of its genus, and is
distinguished by the three colours of its beak, bright yellow, red, and
black. Eudynamis melanorynchus differs from all its allies in having a
jet-black bill, whereas the other species of the genus always have it
green, yellow, or reddish.
The Celebes Roller (Coracias temmincki) is an interesting example of
one species of a genus being cut off from the rest. There are species of
Coracias in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but none in the Malay peninsula,
Sumatra, Java, or Borneo. The present species seems therefore quite out
of place; and what is still more curious is the fact that it is not at
all like any of the Asiatic species, but seems more to resemble those of
Africa.
In the next family, the Bee-eaters, is another equally isolated bird,
Meropogon forsteni, which combines the characters of African and Indian
Bee-eaters, and whose only near ally, Meropogon breweri, was discovered
by M. Du Chaillu in West Africa!
The two Celebes Hornbills have no close allies in those which abound in
the surrounding countries. The only Thrush, Geocichla erythronota,
is most nearly allied to a species peculiar to Timor. Two of the
Flycatchers are closely allied to Indian species, which are not found
in the Malay islands. Two genera somewhat allied to the Magpies
(Streptocitta and Charitornis), but whose affinities are so doubtful
that Professor Schlegel places them among the Starlings, are entirely
confined to Celebes. They are beautiful long-tailed birds, with black
and white plumage, and with the feathers of the head somewhat rigid and
scale-like.
Doubtfully allied to the Starlings are two other very isolated and
beautiful birds. One, Enodes erythrophrys, has ashy and yellow plumage,
but is ornamented with broad stripes of orange-red above the eyes. The
other, Basilornis celebensis, is a blue-black bird with a white patch
on each side of the breast, and the head ornamented with a beautiful
compressed scaly crest of feathers, resembling in form that of the
well-known Cock-of-the-rock of South America. The only ally to this bird
is found in Ceram, and has the feathers of the crest elongated upwards
into quite a different form.
A still more curious bird is the Scissirostrum pagei, which although
it is at present classed in the Starling family, differs from all other
species in the form of the bill and nostrils, and seems most nearly
allied in its general structure to the Ox-peckers (Buphaga) of tropical
Africa, next to which the celebrated ornithologist Prince Bonaparte
finally placed it. It is almost entirely of a slatey colour, with yellow
bill and feet, but the feathers of the rump and upper tail-coverts each
terminate in a rigid, glossy pencil or tuft of a vivid crimson. These
pretty little birds take the place of the metallic-green starlings
of the genus Calornis, which are found in most other islands of the
Archipelago, but which are absent from Celebes. They go in flocks,
feeding upon grain and fruits, often frequenting dead trees, in holes of
which they build their nests; and they cling to the trunks as easily as
woodpeckers or creepers.
Out of eighteen Pigeons found in Celebes, eleven are peculiar to it. Two
of them, Ptilonopus gularis and Turacaena menadensis, have their
nearest allies in Timor. Two others, Carpophaga forsteni and Phlaegenas
tristigmata, most resemble Philippine island species; and Carpophaga
radiata belongs to a New Guinea group. Lastly, in the Gallinaceous
tribe, the curious helmeted Maleo (Megacephalon rubripes) is quite
isolated, having its nearest (but still distant) allies in the
Brush-turkeys of Australia and New Guinea.
Judging, therefore, by the opinions of the eminent naturalists who have
described and classified its birds, we find that many of the species
have no near allies whatsoever in the countries which surround Celebes,
but are either quite isolated, or indicate relations with such distant
regions as New Guinea, Australia, India, or Africa. Other cases of
similar remote affinities between the productions of distant countries
no doubt exist, but in no spot upon the globe that I am yet acquainted
with, do so many of them occur together, or do they form so decided a
feature in the natural history of the country.
The Mammalia of Celebes are very few in number, consisting of fourteen
terrestrial species and seven bats. Of the former no less than eleven
are peculiar, including two which there is reason to believe may have
been recently carried into other islands by man. Three species which
have a tolerably wide range in the Archipelago, are: (1) The curious
Lemur, Tarsius spectrum, which is found in all the islands as far
westward as Malacca; (2) the common Malay Civet, Viverra tangalunga,
which has a still wider range; and (3) a Deer, which seems to be the
same as the Rusa hippelaphus of Java, and was probably introduced by man
at an early period.
The more characteristic species are as follow:
Cynopithecus nigrescens, a curious baboon-like monkey if not a true
baboon, which abounds all over Celebes, and is found nowhere else but
in the one small island of Batchian, into which it has probably been
introduced accidentally. An allied species is found in the Philippines,
but in no other island of the Archipelago is there anything resembling
them. These creatures are about the size of a spaniel, of a jet-black
colour, and have the projecting dog-like muzzle and overhanging brows
of the baboons. They have large red callosities and a short fleshy tail,
scarcely an inch long and hardly visible. They go in large bands, living
chiefly in the trees, but often descending on the ground and robbing
gardens and orchards.
Anoa depressicornis, the Sapi-utan, or wild cow of the Malays, is an
animal which has been the cause of much controversy, as to whether it
should be classed as ox, buffalo, or antelope. It is smaller than any
other wild cattle, and in many respects seems to approach some of the
ox-like antelopes of Africa. It is found only in the mountains, and
is said never to inhabit places where there are deer. It is somewhat
smaller than a small Highland cow, and has long straight horns, which
are ringed at the base and slope backwards over the neck.
The wild pig seems to be of a species peculiar to the island; but a much
more curious animal of this family is the Babirusa or Pig-deer; so
named by the Malays from its long and slender legs, and curved tusks
resembling horns. This extraordinary creature resembles a pig in general
appearance, but it does not dig with its snout, as it feeds on fallen
fruits. The tusks of the lower jaw are very long and sharp, but the
upper ones instead of growing downwards in the usual way are completely
reversed, growing upwards out of bony sockets through the skin on
each side of the snout, curving backwards to near the eyes, and in old
animals often reaching eight or ten inches in length. It is difficult to
understand what can be the use of these extraordinary horn-like teeth.
Some of the old writers supposed that they served as hooks, by which
the creature could rest its head on a branch. But the way in which they
usually diverge just over and in front of the eye has suggested the more
probable idea, that they serve to guard these organs from thorns and
spines, while hunting for fallen fruits among the tangled thickets of
rattans and other spiny plants. Even this, however, is not satisfactory,
for the female, who must seek her food in the same way, does not possess
them. I should be inclined to believe rather, that these tusks were once
useful, and were then worn down as fast as they grew; but that changed
conditions of life have rendered them unnecessary, and they now develop
into a monstrous form, just as the incisors of the Beaver or Rabbit
will go on growing, if the opposite teeth do not wear them away. In old
animals they reach an enormous size, and are generally broken off as if
by fighting.
Here again we have a resemblance to the Wart-hogs of Africa, whose upper
canines grow outwards and curve up so as to form a transition from the
usual mode of growth to that of the Babirusa. In other respects there
seems no affinity between these animals, and the Babirusa stands
completely isolated, having no resemblance to the pigs of any other part
of the world. It is found all over Celebes and in the Sula islands,
and also in Bourn, the only spot beyond the Celebes group to which it
extends; and which island also shows some affinity to the Sula islands
in its birds, indicating perhaps, a closer connection between them at
some former period than now exists.
The other terrestrial mammals of Celebes are five species of squirrels,
which are all distinct from those of Java and Borneo, and mark the
furthest eastward range of the genus in the tropics; and two of Eastern
opossums (Cuscus), which are different from those of the Moluccas, and
mark the furthest westward extension of this genus and of the Marsupial
order. Thus we see that the Mammalia of Celebes are no less individual
and remarkable than the birds, since three of the largest and most
interesting species have no near allies in surrounding countries, but
seem vaguely to indicate a relation to the African continent.
Many groups of insects appear to be especially subject to local
influences, their forms and colours changing with each change of
conditions, or even with a change of locality where the conditions seem
almost identical. We should therefore anticipate that the individuality
manifested in the higher animals would be still more prominent in these
creatures with less stable organisms. On the other hand, however, we
have to consider that the dispersion and migration of insects is much
more easily effected than that of mammals or even of birds. They are
much more likely to be carried away by violent winds; their eggs may
be carried on leaves either by storms of wind or by floating trees, and
their larvae and pupae, often buried in trunks of trees or enclosed in
waterproof cocoons, may be floated for days or weeks uninjured over
the ocean. These facilities of distribution tend to assimilate the
productions of adjacent lands in two ways: first, by direct mutual
interchange of species; and secondly, by repeated immigrations of
fresh individuals of a species common to other islands, which by
intercrossing, tend to obliterate the changes of form and colour, which
differences of conditions might otherwise produce. Bearing these facts
in mind, we shall find that the individuality of the insects of Celebes
is even greater than we have any reason to expect.
For the purpose of insuring accuracy in comparisons with other islands,
I shall confine myself to those groups which are best known, or which
I have myself carefully studied. Beginning with the Papilionidae or
Swallow-tailed butterflies, Celebes possesses 24 species, of which the
large number of 18 are not found in any other island. If we compare this
with Borneo, which out of 29 species has only two not found elsewhere,
the difference is as striking as anything can be. In the family of the
Pieridae, or white butterflies, the difference is not quite so great,
owing perhaps to the more wandering habits of the group; but it is still
very remarkable. 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.
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 those 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. Figure 2 shows the abrupt bend
over the base of the wing in Papilio miletus of Celebes, compared with
the slight curvature in the common Papilio sarpedon, which has almost
exactly the same form from India to New Guinea and Australia. Figure
3 shows the elongated wing of Tachyris zarinda, a native of Celebes,
compared with the much shorter wing of Tachyris nero, a very closely
allied species found in all the western islands. The difference of form
is in each case sufficiently obvious, but when the insects themselves
are compared, it is much more striking than in these partial outlines.
From the analogy of birds, we should suppose that the pointed wing
gave increased rapidity of flight, since it is a character of terns,
swallows, falcons, and of the swift-flying pigeons. A short and rounded
wing, on the other hand, always accompanies a more feeble or more
laborious flight, and one much less under command. We might suppose,
therefore, that the butterflies which possess this peculiar form were
better able to escape pursuit. But there seems no unusual abundance of
insectivorous birds to render this necessary; and as we cannot believe
that such a curious peculiarity is without meaning, it seems probable
that it is the result of a former condition of things, when the island
possessed a much richer fauna, the relics of which we see in the
isolated birds and Mammalia now inhabiting it; and when the abundance
of insectivorous creatures rendered some unusual means of escape
a necessity for the large-winged and showy butterflies. It is some
confirmation of this view, that neither the very small nor the very
obscurely coloured groups of butterflies have elongated wings, nor is
any modification perceptible in those strong-winged groups which already
possess great strength and rapidity of flight. These were already
sufficiently protected from their enemies, and did not require increased
power of escaping from them. It is not at all clear what effect the
peculiar curvature of the wings has in modifying flight.
Another curious feature in the zoology of Celebes is also worthy of
attention. I allude to the absence of several groups which are found on
both sides of it, in the Indo-Malay islands as well as in the Moluccas;
and which thus seem to be unable, from some unknown cause, to obtain a
footing in the intervening island. In Birds we have the two families of
Podargidae and Laniadae, which range over the whole Archipelago and into
Australia, and which yet have no representative in Celebes. The genera
Ceyx among Kingfishers, Criniger among Thrushes, Rhipidura among
Flycatchers, Calornis among Starlings, and Erythrura among Finches,
are all found in the Moluccas as well as in Borneo and Java--but not a
single species belonging to any one of them is found in Celebes. Among
insects, the large genus of Rose-chafers, Lomaptera, is found in every
country and island between India and New Guinea, except Celebes. This
unexpected absence of many groups, from one limited district in the very
centre of their area of distribution, is a phenomenon not altogether
unique, but, I believe, nowhere so well marked as in this case; and it
certainly adds considerably to the strange character of this remarkable
island.
The anomalies and eccentricities in the natural history of Celebes which
I have endeavoured to sketch in this CHAPTER, all point to an origin in
a remote antiquity. The history of extinct animals teaches us that their
distribution in time and in space are strikingly similar. The rule is,
that just as the productions of adjacent areas usually resemble each
other closely, so do the productions of successive periods in the same
area; and as the productions of remote areas generally differ widely, so
do the productions of the same area at remote epochs. We are therefore
led irresistibly to the conclusion, that change of species, still more
of generic and of family form, is a matter of time. But time may have
led to a change of species in one country, while in another the forms
have been more permanent, or the change may have gone on at an equal
rate but in a different manner in both. In either case, the amount of
individuality in the productions of a district will be to some extent
a measure of the time that a district has been isolated from those that
surround it. Judged by this standard, Celebes must be one of the oldest
parts of the Archipelago. It probably dates from a period not only
anterior to that when Borneo, Java, and Sumatra were separated from the
continent, but from that still more remote epoch when the land that now
constitutes these islands had not risen above the ocean.
Such an antiquity is necessary, to account for the number of animal
forms it possesses, which show no relation to those of India or
Australia, but rather with those of Africa; and we are led to speculate
on the possibility of there having once existed a continent in the
Indian Ocean which might serve as a bridge to connect these distant
countries. Now it is a curious fact, that the existence of such a land
has been already thought necessary, to account for the distribution
of the curious Quadrumana forming the family of the Lemurs. These have
their metropolis in Madagascar, but are found also in Africa, in Ceylon,
in the peninsula of India, and in the Malay Archipelago as far as
Celebes, which is its furthest eastern limit. Dr. Sclater has proposed
for the hypothetical continent connecting these distant points, and
whose former existence is indicated by the Mascarene islands and the
Maldive coral group, the name of Lemuria. Whether or not we believe
in its existence in the exact form here indicated, the student of
geographical distribution must see in the extraordinary and isolated
productions of Celebes, proof of the former existence of some continent
from whence the ancestors of these creatures, and of many other
intermediate forms, could have been derived.
In this short sketch of the most striking peculiarities of the Natural
History of Celebes, I have been obliged to enter much into details that
I fear will have been uninteresting to the general reader, but unless I
had done so, my exposition would have lost much of its force and value.
It is by these details alone that I have been able to prove the unusual
features that Celebes presents to us. Situated in the very midst of an
Archipelago, and closely hemmed in on every side by islands teeming with
varied forms of life, its productions have yet a surprising amount of
individuality. While it is poor in the actual number of its species, it
is yet wonderfully rich in peculiar forms, many of which are singular
or beautiful, and are in some cases absolutely unique upon the globe. We
behold here the curious phenomenon of groups of insects changing their
outline in a similar manner when compared with those of surrounding
islands, suggesting some common cause which never seems to have acted
elsewhere in exactly the same way. Celebes, therefore, presents us with
a most striking example of the interest that attaches to the study of
the geographical distribution of animals. We can see that their present
distribution upon the globe is the result of all the more recent changes
the earth's surface has undergone; and, by a careful study of the
phenomena, we are sometimes able to deduce approximately what those past
changes must have been in order to produce the distribution we find to
exist. In the comparatively simple case of the Timor group, we were able
to deduce these changes with some approach to certainty. In the much
more complicated case of Celebes, we can only indicate their general
nature, since we now see the result, not of any single or recent change
only, but of a whole series of the later revolutions which have resulted
in the present distribution of land in the Eastern Hemisphere.