In this Archipelago there are two distinct faunas
rigidly circumscribed, which differ as much as those of South America
and Africa, and more than those of Europe and North America: yet there
is nothing on the map or on the face of the islands to mark their
limits. The boundary line often passes between islands closer than
others in the same group. I believe the western part to be a separated
portion of continental Asia, the eastern the fragmentary prolongation of
a former Pacific continent. In mammalia and birds the distinction is
marked by genera, families, and even orders confined to one region; in
_insects_ by a number of genera and little groups of peculiar species,
the _families_ of insects having generally a universal distribution.
* * * * *
_Ternate, January 25, 1858._
I have not done much here yet, having been much occupied in getting a
house repaired and put in order. This island is a volcano with a sloping
spur on which the town is situated. About ten miles to the east is the
coast of the large Island of Gilolo, perhaps the most perfect
entomological _terra incognita_ now to be found.
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