100 jTKRorrs htpojielanvs ORorp. 



smaller and very pale-coloured Pt. fjrhevs; and in the Eanda 

 Islands by the closely allied but darker Pt. jmUidiis. The species 

 inhabiting the extreme eastern islands of Austro-Malaya, viz. the 

 Admiralty {Pi. admiralltatum) and Solomon Islands {Pt. colonus 

 and sohmonis), as well as the single Australian species {IH. 

 hruHtu-us), differ from Pt, hypomeJaniis chiefly in smaller size, 

 relatively smaller ears, and peculiar colour of the lur, Pt. solomonis 

 and brtuuiens also slightly in the distribution of the fur (tibia 

 clothed above). 



The eleven species referred to above are in all essential characters 

 (both in skull, dentition, and externally) typical representatives of 

 the hiipomelanux group. So far as the skull and dentition are con- 

 cerned, nearly the same might be said of the four extreme south- 

 eastern and northern species, inhabiting respectively New Caledonia, 

 the Loyalty Islands, P'ormosa, and the Liu-kiii Islands, but in 

 these the external characters are more or less conspicuously 

 modified. In Pt. ornatus (New Caledonia) and auratus (Loyalty 

 Islands) the general structure of the teeth is unmodified hypo- 

 melanine, but the individual teeth are rather heavier, the cranial 

 crests and the coronoid process of the mandible therefore stronger, the 

 fur is longer and less closely adpressed, the tibiae clothed, the coloiir 

 different. In the two northern species, isolated the one in Formosa 

 (y^<. /o;-mos((*')and the other in the South Liu-kiu Islands (rt. t/as?/- 

 iiiallus), the skull and dentition are perfectly hypomelanine, but 

 the fur is long and spreading, extending thickly on the uppcrside of 

 the tibiae, the ears small, almost concealed in the fur, the colour 

 peculiar. Finally in the single Mascarene representative of the 

 grouj), Pt. suhn'ujer (Mauritius, lleunion), not only the external 

 characters but also the dentition and skull are modified : size of 

 teelh reduced, premolars and molars narrow, skull showing the 

 modifications usually found in species with weak dentition (see 

 above, p. (33) ; ears small, fur long and spreading, extending 

 thickly on upperside of tibia, colour dark brown above and beneath 

 with paler collar, size very small. 



Affinities of grotq). — The complete lack of specialization in skull 

 and dentition (the Mascarene species excepted), the enormous 

 .range of group, its differentiation into many species and local 

 races, the fact that it is represented by distinct species in the 

 Aiidamans, Nicobars, Formosa, Liu-kius, Solomon Islands, Aus- 

 tralia, New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, and Mascarcnes, — are 

 evidence that its origin dates far back in the historj- of the genus. 

 Its affinities to the Polynesian 1^1. mariannus type are so extremely 

 close, that it is difficult or impossible to draw a hard-and-fast 

 line between the two groups. If taken together, they cover 

 practically the whole area inliabited by the genus, with exception 

 of the Himalayas, India, and Ceylon. 





