So you will see that my views are nearly the same
with yours, and you may rely on it that not one word shall be altered
owing to my having read your ideas. Are you aware that Mr. W. Earl
published several years ago the view of distribution of animals in the
Malay Archipelago in relation to the depth of the sea between the
islands? I was much struck with this, and have been in habit of noting
all facts on distribution in the Archipelago and elsewhere in this
relation. I have been led to conclude that there has been a good deal of
naturalisation in the different Malay islands, and which I have thought
to certain extent would account for anomalies. Timor has been my
greatest puzzle. What do you say to the peculiar _Felis_ there? I wish
that you had visited Timor: it has been asserted that a fossil mastodon
or elephant's tooth (I forget which) had been found there, which would
be a grand fact. I was aware that Celebes was very peculiar; but the
relation to Africa is quite new to me and marvellous, and almost passes
belief. It is as anomalous as the relation of plants in South-West
Australia to the Cape of Good Hope.
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