DISTRIBUTION OF MAMMALS 179 



bat is reported from the Marshall Islands. Absence of records 

 may indicate either incomplete collecting or actual absence; 

 such small islands offer few of the necessities of life, even for 

 bats. 



The Melanesia!! Islands (leaving out the Solomons and the 

 Bismarck Archipelago, which have been discussed with New 

 Guinea) harbor flying foxes, long-tailed fruit bats, and sheath- 

 tailed bats. New Caledonia, the largest of these islands, has in 

 addition one of the bent-winged bats and an insectivorous bat 

 (Chalinolohus) related to Australian forms. The New Hebri- 

 des and Santa Cruz Islands have Chalinolohus and a leaf-nosed 

 bat (Hipposideros), 



New Zealand has a very interesting invertebrate and bird 

 fauna, but its land mammals are restricted to two kinds of bats 

 and introduced species of deer, elk, and various others. One of 

 the two bats (Mystacops), placed in a family by itself, is per- 

 haps a relict of the primitive group which gave rise to the free- 

 tailed bats of the tropics and warmer zones of both hemispheres. 

 The other is a common bat {Chalinolohus) related to those 

 found in Australia and New Caledonia. 



The Polynesian Islands, roughly definable as those east of the 

 International Date Line, are inhabited for the most part only 

 by introduced rats and mice. Samoa and the Tonga Islands, 

 however, mark the eastward limits of the Australo-Oriental bats ; 

 and Hawaii is the home of a species of hoary bat (Lasiurus) 

 derived from an American stock. Samoa, perhaps because its 

 fauna has been better studied, is known to have two species of 

 flying fox bats, a common bat {Myotis) of a genus almost 

 world-wide in distribution, and a sheath-tailed bat (Emballo- 

 nura). From the Tongas, several hundred miles farther east, 

 only the flying fox is known. 



The Juan Fernandez Islands were originally without native 

 land mammals. Their aquatic mammals include sea lions, fur 

 seals, and some true seals. Rats and mice have been introduced 

 by whalers and sealers, and goats were turned loose and in- 



