DISTRIBUTION OF MAMMALS 169 



does not offer proper environmental conditions to attract or 

 preserve these mammals. 



The Formosa macaque monkey, although usually given spe- 

 cific rank, is closely related to the common rhesus of southern 

 China. The Formosan hare, described as a species of LepuSy 

 may be related to the coarse-haired rabbit of the Chinese coast 

 (Caprolagus). The moles, shrews, ferret badger, yellow-throated 

 marten, mink, otter, Asiatic black bear, civets, palm civets, mon- 

 goose, clouded leopard, fishing cat, leopard cat, scaly anteater, 

 hedgehog, squirrels and flying squirrels, and rats are either local 

 races of Chinese species or identical to the mammals on the 

 mainland. Formosa may have been formerly connected with 

 China ; the depth of the strait is now about fifty fathoms. 



The Philippine Islands, excluding Palawan, the Calamianes, 

 and Balabac which belong to the Malayan Subregion, are often 

 separated as a distinct subregion. Their mammal fauna seems 

 to have been derived chiefly from Malayan sources. It becomes 

 progressively poorer as one proceeds northward, while the forms 

 peculiar to the islands are concentrated in Luzon and Mindanao. 

 Rodents and bats are widespread and diversified. Shrews occur 

 on all the islands. The long-tailed or crab-eating macaque 

 monkey, the civet, palm civet, pigs, and a small sambar deer are 

 also almost everywhere. Squirrels, tarsiers, and flying lemurs 

 or caguans are found only on several of the more southern is- 

 lands. The tamarau or Philippine native representative of the 

 water buffalo, is found only on Mindoro; however, introduced 

 domesticated buffaloes have in some instances gone wild on vari- 

 ous islands of the group. The slow loris, tree shrew, and one of 

 the gymnure insectivores reach Mindanao. 



Palawan, although it does not have all the Malay mammals, 

 has so many of them that it is placed with the Greater Sunda 

 Islands in the Malay Subregion. It was part of the mainland 

 and connected with Borneo in all probability during the Pleisto- 

 cene, while the other Philippine Islands have always been either 

 separated from the continent or were connected so long ago that 



