MAMMALS OF BANKA, MENDANAU, AND BILLITON 

 ISLANDS, BETWEEN SUMATRA AND BORNEO. 



By Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr., 



Assistant Curatar, Division of Maimnals. 



This paper is based on 274 specimens of mammals collected on the 

 islands of Banka and Billiton and on the little island of Mendanau 

 Ij'ing off the west coast of Billiton (see map, page 577), b}' Dr. W. L. 

 Abbott, between January 20, 1904, and August 14, 1904, and pre. 

 sented to the United States National Museum. No general account, 

 so far as I am aware, has appeared concerning the mammal fauna of 

 Banka. Jentink** has twice published lists of the mammals of Billiton. 

 Man}" specimens in the collection of the Leyden Museum are recorded 

 from Banka b}- Schlegel, b}" Jentink,^ and l\v Midler.' 



Recently Willink'' has published a list of the mammals of the Dutch 

 East Indies, showing the species known from Banka and Billiton as 

 well as from many other islands. 



Banka, also spelled Bangka, the larger of the two islands, is just off 

 the coast of Siunatra from which it is separated b}" a channel less than 

 10 miles wide in places and varying in depth between 10 and 19 fath- 

 oms. The average width of the island is about 50 miles and its length, 

 which extends from northwest to southeast, is about 150 miles. There 

 are several hills on it, the highest of which is in the northern part and 

 is recorded as being 2,296 feet in altitude. Doctor Abbott's remarks 

 on his collecting stations are given be3'ond. 



Billiton, measuring about 50 miles square, lies nearl}" 50 miles to 

 the east of the southern extremity of Banka. The highest hill on it 

 is said to be 1,673 feet in altitude. The waters between Banka and 

 Billiton have a depth ratiging from 19 to 29 fathoms. A number of 

 small islands occupy this channel. Doctor Abbott collected only on 

 one of them, Mendanau, about 4 miles to the west of Billiton. Billi- 



" Notes, Leyden Museum, XII, 1890, pp. 149-154; and XIII, 1891, pp. 207-209. 

 'J Catalogue Systematique des Mammiferes. Catalogue Osteologique des Mammi- 

 feres, and Siniiae. Mus. d'Hist. Nat. Pays-Bas. 



'■Yerhandl. Natuur. Geschied. Nederl. Over. Bezitt. ZooL, 1839-44. 

 ''Natuurkundig Tijdschrift Nederlandsch-Indie, XLV, 10th ser., Pt. 9, pp. 153-345. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXXI— No. 1498. 



575 



