It Was Found In Gilolo.
All These Insects Are Represented Of The Natural Size.
Like the birds, the insects of the Moluccas show a decided
affinity with those of New Guinea rather than
With the
productions of the great western islands of the Archipelago, but
the difference in form and structure between the productions of
the east and west is not nearly so marked here as in birds. This
is probably due to the more immediate dependence of insects on
climate and vegetation, and the greater facilities for their
distribution in the varied stages of egg, pupa, and perfect
insect. This has led to a general uniformity in the insect-life
of the whole Archipelago, in accordance with the general
uniformity of its climate and vegetation; while on the other hand
the great susceptibility of the insect organization to the action
of external conditions has led to infinite detailed modifications
of form and colour, which have in many cases given a considerable
diversity to the productions of adjacent islands.
Owing to the great preponderance among the birds, of parrots,
pigeons, kingfishers, and sunbirds, almost all of gay or delicate
colours, and many adorned with the most gorgeous plumage, and to
the numbers of very large and showy butterflies which are almost
everywhere to be met with, the forests of the Moluccas offer to
the naturalist a very striking example of the luxuriance and
beauty of animal life in the tropics. Yet the almost entire
absence of Mammalia, and of such wide-spread groups of birds as
woodpeckers, thrushes, jays, tits, and pheasants, must convince
him that he is in a part of the world which has, in reality but
little in common with the great Asiatic continent, although an
unbroken chain of islands seems to link them to it.
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