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THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE TIMOR GROUP.
IF we look at a map of the Archipelago, nothing seems more unlikely than that the closely connected chain of islands from Java to Timor should differ materially in their natural productions.

There are, it is true, certain differences of climate and of physical geography, but these do not correspond with the division the naturalist is obliged to make.
Between the two ends of the chain there is a great contrast of climate, the west being exceedingly moist and leaving only a short and irregular dry season, the east being as dry and parched up, and having but a short wet season.

This change, however, occurs about the middle of Java, the eastern portion of that island having as strongly marked seasons as Lombock and Timor.

There is also a difference in physical geography; but this occurs at the eastern termination of the chain where the volcanoes which are the marked feature of Java, Bali, Lombock, Sumbawa, and Flores, turn northwards through Gunong Api to Banda, leaving Timor with only one volcanic peak near its centre, while the main portion of the island consists of old sedimentary rocks.