Ixxvi GEOGRAPHICAT- DISTKIBUTION. 



vtelavus, for instance, covers practically the whole area from Indo- 

 China to New Guinea and Woodlark Island, but is broken up into 

 no less than twelve subspecies ; Fteropus vampyrus ranges over the 

 whole of the Indo-Mala3an subregion, but divided into six races ; 

 IJjiomoj^horvs wuhlbergi is distributed over the greater part of the 

 Ethiopian region (except the Guinea coast west of Canieroons), but 

 falls into two races — a western and eastern ; Cynopterus bmchyotis 

 is known from tho whole of Indo-Malaya, extending eastward 

 beyond this subregion to Celebes, westward to Kurma and Assam, 

 and reappearing farther west in Ceylon, but is broken up into eight 

 local forms ; MacroyJossus Ingocliilus extends from Borneo in an 

 unbroken range eastward to the Solomon Islands, but has differ- 

 entiated into four subspecies ; Syconycteris crassa ranges from tho 

 Moluccas to the islands south-east of New Guinea, but has split 

 into five races. There are, however, a few noticeable exceptions 

 from the general rule of the relatively narrowly limited range of 

 the species and subspecies; Eidolon hdinmi is generally distributed, 

 without any appreciable change of characters, over nearly the 

 •whole of the Ethiopian region (South Arabia excepted) ; Itousetius 

 ampJexicaudatus occurs in Cambodja, through the Philippines, 

 Uorneo, Sumatra (not Java), east to Flores and Timor, apparently 

 without splitting into local forms ; Bousettus brctcliyotis ranges, 

 seemingly unchanged, from the Amboina group to the Solomon 

 Islands ; Cynopterus bracJiyotisbrachyotis from Lower Siam, through 

 the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra, Eorneo, the Philippines, and 

 Celebes ; Mncroylossus layochilus lagochilus over Borneo, the Philip- 

 pines, Celebes, and the Amboina group. Whether these exceptions 

 are really much more frequent and much more striking among 

 Megachiroptera (and Chiroptera in general) than among non-flying 

 Mammalia, is perhaps doubtful. In any case, against these few 

 instances of an exceptionally wide distribution of one apparently 

 unchanged form may be placed a large number of species known 

 only from, and in many cases probably really restricted to, one 

 island or group of islands. 



The evidence afibrded by the geographical distribution of Bats 

 has generally been considered of doubtful value ; hence they have 

 either been entirely excluded from the material worked out by 

 zoogeographers or at least treated with pronounced suspicion, as 

 likely to be more or less unreliable documents of evidence. This 

 unwillingness or hesitation to place Bats on an equal zoogeographical 

 footing with non-flying Mammalia would seem to be due, partly to 

 the preconceived idea that owing to their power of flight Bats must 

 evidently have been able easily to spread across barriers which, in 

 ordinary circumstances, are insuperable for wingless Mammalia ; 

 partljf to the fact that hitherto very often whole series of distinct 

 forms have been concealed under one technical name. So long as 

 (to mention only three cases among many) " Macroglosstis minimus" 

 was believed to range unchanged from the Himalayas to New 

 Guinea, Australia, and the Solomon Islands (now two distinct 

 genera, thirteen recognizable forms), or " Cynoi-iUrvs margiiuilus " 



