Foreword "^^ 



When "Pearl Harbor" made Americans conscious that the 

 Pacific Ocean was about to become a vast theatre of military 

 operations, it was apparent that many of the critical areas were 

 only places on the map to most people. Few persons knew any- 

 thing about the appearance of the war areas, their geograph- 

 ical significance, or their wildlife and its environment. Most of 

 the fighting was developing among islands, and there are thou- 

 sands of these in the Pacific. Also there are great differences 

 existing between various island masses, as for example the Aleu- 

 tians and the Solomons. 



Some of the islands are the home of unique animal life, to be 

 seen nowhere else in the world. If military personnel were con- 

 centrated on certain of these islands it might mean that need- 

 less destruction of irreplaceable wildlife would result unless the 

 military and others were told something about the natural his- 

 tory of the Pacific. 



The American Committee for International Wild Life Pro- 

 tection resolved, in the winter of 1942, that something should 

 be published to inform our armed forces about the wildlife they 

 would encounter in the far reaches of the world's greatest ocean. 

 Of course it was realized that when men are at war nothing in 

 the natural environment would weigh against human life. But 

 where conservation of the fauna and flora placed no obstacle 

 before military expediency, it would be easier to arouse support 

 for conservation if the public had available some simple account 

 of the wildlife of the Pacific. The initial idea of the Committee 

 expanded, and nine cooperating institutions eventually em- 

 barked upon the larger concept of an over-all picture of the 

 Pacific World which will depict for the enlisted man and his 



