Its nearest allies are in Java.4.Cervus timoriensis; a deer, closely allied to the Javan and Moluccan species, if distinct.5.A wild pig, Sus timoriensis; perhaps the same as some of the Moluccan species.

6.
A shrew mouse, Sorex tenuis; supposed to be peculiar to Timor.7.

An Eastern opossum, Cuscus orientalis; found also in the Moluccas, if not a distinct species.
The fact that not one of these species is Australian or nearly allied to any Australian form, is strongly corroborative of the opinion that Timor has never formed a part of that country; as in that case some kangaroo or other marsupial animal would almost certainly be found there.

It is no doubt very difficult to account for the presence of some of the few mammals that do exist in Timor, especially the tiger cat and the deer.
We must consider, however, that during thousands, and perhaps hundreds of thousands of years, these islands and the seas between them have been subjected to volcanic action.

The land has been raised and has sunk again; the straits have been narrowed or widened; many of the islands may have been joined and dissevered again; violent floods have again and again devastated the mountains and plains, carrying out to sea hundreds of forest trees, as has often happened during volcanic eruptions in Java; and it does not seem improbable that once in a thousand, or ten thousand years, there should have occurred such a favourable combination of circumstances as would lead to the migration of two or three land animals from one island to another.