168 MAMMALS OF THE PACIFIC WORLD 



red-backed mouse. Some are related to the Eurasian types : cer- 

 tain insectivorous bats, badger, otter, pigs, moles, dormouse, 

 wood mouse, and tree squirrel. Still other mammals have their 

 affinities with the South Asiatic animals ; some of the bats, in- 

 cluding a species of flying fox, the Asiatic black bear, the rac- 

 coon dog, sika deer, the serow (a goat-antelope), the water 

 shrew, the Japanese monkey, and the flying squirrels are among 

 these. 



The Oriental Region is usually understood to include India, 

 Burma, southern China, Indo-China, Siam, and the Malay 

 Peninsula. It extends to the Luchus and Formosa, and from 

 Sumatra east to the Moluccas. The islands between Lombok 

 and Ceram form a debatable area — ^Wallacea or the Australo- 

 Oriental Subregion — where palm civet, deer, and wild pigs of 

 southern Asiatic types overlap with mammals of Australian re- 

 lationships, like the phalangers. Only a single genus of the 

 phalangers, however, extends west beyond the Moluccas ; no 

 marsupials are known from any of the Lesser Sunda Islands 

 other than Timor and nearby Wetar. The origins of the poor 

 faunas of this debatable area are chiefly the Oriental Region, 

 at least as far as mammals are concerned. 



The Luchus are inhabited by few kinds of mammals. The 

 indigenous Oriental mammals comprise flying fox bats, a species 

 of leaf-nosed bat, and one of the horseshoe bats (other bats are 

 Eurasian species). The dugong, a sea cow, reaches this far 

 north. Pigs and the house shrew probably came in with man. 

 The Luchu hare, found only in these islands, seems to be a relict 

 form related to extinct rabbits. 



Formosa is better populated with mammals than the Luchus. 

 Almost all are South Asiatic forms. A few with northern affini- 

 ties, such as the wood mouse, which occur on the island, are also 

 found in the Chinese fauna. Not all of the species of mammals 

 living on the nearby mainland are found in Formosa. In some 

 cases these mainland species may have reached their present 

 home only after the island was cut off ; in other cases the island 



