In Lucanidæ the Malay islands are rich, 14 out of the 16 Oriental genera occurring there, and 3 being peculiar. There are many fine species of Odontolabris, which may be considered the characteristic genus of the sub-region.
The Cetoniidæ are well represented by 16 genera and about 120 species. The genera Mycteristes, Phædimus, Plectrone, Euremina, Rhagopteryx and Centrognathus are peculiar, while Agestrata, Chalcothea, and Macronota are abundant and characteristic.
The Longicorns, as in all continental forest regions near the equator, are very abundant and in endlessly varied forms. No less than 55 genera containing about 200 species are peculiar to this sub-region, the Cerambycidæ being much the most numerous. Euryarthrum, Cœlosterna, Agelasta, and Astathes may be considered as most characteristic; but to name the curious and interesting forms would be to give a list of half the genera. For the relations of the Longicorns of the Indo-Malay, and those of the Austro-Malay region, the reader is referred to the chapter on the distribution of insects in the succeeding part of this work.
Terrestrial Mollusca.—The Philippine islands are celebrated as being one of the richest parts of the world for land shells, about 400 species being known. The other islands of the sub-region are far less rich, not more than about 100 species having yet been described from the whole of them. Helix and Bulimus both abound in species in the Philippines, whereas the latter genus is very scarce in Borneo and Java. Ten genera of Helicidæ inhabit the sub-region; Pfeifferia is found in the Philippines and Moluccas, while the large genus Cochlostyla is almost peculiar to the Philippines. Of the Operculata there are representatives of 20 genera, of which Dermatoma and Pupinella are peculiar, while Registoma and Callia extend to the Australian region. Cyclophorus, Leptopoma, and Pupina are perhaps the most characteristic genera.
The Zoological Relations of the Several Islands of the Indo-Malay Sub-region.
Although we have grouped the Philippine islands with the Indo-Malay sub-region, to which, as we shall see, they undoubtedly belong, yet most of the zoological characteristics we have just sketched out, apply more especially to the other groups of islands and the Malay peninsula. The Philippine islands stand, to Malaya proper, in the same relation that Madagascar does to Africa or the Antilles to South America; that is, they are remarkable for the absence of whole families and genera which everywhere characterise the remainder of the district. They are, in fact, truly insular, while the other islands are really continental in all the essential features of their natural history. Before, therefore, we can conveniently compare the separate islands of Malaya[[12]] with each other, we must first deal with the Philippine group, showing in what its speciality consists, and why it must be considered apart from the sub-region to which it belongs.
Mammals of the Philippine Islands.—The only mammalia recorded as inhabiting the Philippine Islands are the following:—
| Quadrumana. | 1. Macacus cynomolgus. | |
| 2. Cynopithecus niger. | Dr. Semper doubts this being a Philippine species. | |
| Lemuroidea. | 3. Tarsius spectrum. | |
| Insectivora. | 4. Galeopithecus philippinensis. | |
| 5. Tupaia (species). | On Dr. Semper's authority. | |
| Carnivora. | 6. Viverra tangalunga. | |
| 7. Paradoxurus philippensis. | ||
| Ungulata. | 8. Sus (species). | On Dr. Semper's authority. |
| 9. Cervus mariannus. | ||
| 10. Cervus philippensis. | ||
| 11. Cervus alfredi. | ||
| 12. Bos (species). | Wild cattle; perhaps introduced. | |
| Rodentia. | 13. Phlæomys cummingii. | |
| 14. Scuirus philippinensis. | ||
| Also 24 species, belonging to 17 genera, of bats. | ||
The foregoing list, although small, contains an assemblage of species which are wholly Oriental in character, and several of which (Tarsius, Galeopithecus, Tupaia) are characteristic and highly peculiar Malayan forms. At the same time these islands are completely separated from the rest of Malaya by the total absence of Semnopithecus, Hylobates, Felis, Helarctos, Rhinoceros, Manis, and other groups constantly found in the great Indo-Malay islands and peninsula of Malacca. We find apparently two sets of animals: a more ancient series, represented by the deer, Galeopithecus, and squirrel, in which the species are distinct from any others; and a more recent series, represented by Macacus cynomolgus, and Viverra tangalunga, identical with common Malayan animals. The former indicate the earliest period when these volcanic islands were connected with some part of the Malayan sub-region, and they show that this was not geologically remote, since no peculiar generic types have been preserved or differentiated. The latter may indicate either the termination of the period of union, or merely the effects of introduction by man. The reason why a larger number of mammalian forms were not introduced and established, was probably because the union was effected only with some small islands, and from these communicated to other parts of the archipelago; or it may well be that later subsidences extinguished some of the forms that had established themselves.
Birds of the Philippine Islands.—These have been carefully investigated by Viscount Walden, in a paper read before the Zoological Society of London in 1873, and we are thus furnished with ample information on the relations of this important portion of the fauna.