Ol.lVEli. — Bepft^('< <IH(I MdiiiiiKih in lite KmiKiilcr Jshiiwh. 539 



if any. tlu' inore widely distributed and powerful <>rey and l)Ia(k rats. 

 These, however, are unknown in the Kermadecs. • 



Remarking on Lieutenant Watts's narrative, Mr. Cheeseman says, 

 '■ This would seem to prove that the species, whatever it may be, is truly 

 indigenous " (Cheeseman, 1888, p. 163). Mr. 0. Thomas, in his note on 

 some rats collected on Siuiday Island, says that the Pacific rat " has 

 l)robabIy travelled from island to island in Native canoes, or on floating 

 logs, &c." (Thomas. 1896, p. 338). Now, if floating logs carried rats to 

 the Kermadecs in the first instance, then the species would be truly indi- 

 genous, provided it had not been introduced through the agency of man 

 to the country whence it migrated to the group. 



The Kermadec Islands are, from a biological standpoint, oceanic in 

 character. In order to reach the groups, therefore, rats must cross about 

 six hundred miles (1,000 km.) of ocean, which is the distance to the nearest 

 la.nd. The time which would be taken by a floating tree drifting this dis- 

 tance negatives the possiblity of rats reaching the group in this manner. 



The Pacific rat occurs in all the principal groups of islands in the 

 Pacific Ocean. As many of the inhabitants of these islands used it as an 

 article of food, it would often be carried intentionally from one island to 

 another. Probably, however, it was more often carried accidentally in 

 the Native canoes. Being a small, timid, and harmless animal, it would not 

 be troubled much by the Native navigators, and this, possibly, may explain 

 its wide distribution. 



On Sunday Island there have been found from time to time stone axes 

 of a similar pattern to those made by Maoris. Other evidence of Native 

 occupation of the group is furnished by the large holes on the Terraces, 

 which, from their position, number, and size, have evidently been made 

 by some Native race. Probably they were chiefly ruas, or storehouses 

 for food. In some of the. larger holes, however, were large water-worn 

 scones, no doubt brought from the beach below. These larger holes may 

 be hancjis where the Natives prepared their ti-root. 



There is no doubt then that the Kermadec Islands were at one time 

 inhabited by Natives, and it is by them, either accidentally or intentionally, 

 that I consider the rat has in all probability been introduced.* 



List of Works referririy to Sunday Island Rat. 



1789. Watts, Lieutenant : Chapter xx of " The Voyage of Governor Phillip 

 to Botany Bay." London. 



1887. Smith, S. P.: "The Kermadec Islands; their Capabilities and 

 Extent," p. 24. Wellington. 



1888. Cheeseman, T. F. : " On the Flora of the Kermadec Islands ; with 

 Notes on the Fauna." Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 20, p. 163. 



1896. Thomas, 0. : Proc. Zool. Soc, 1895, p. 338. 



1897. Waite, E. R. : " The Atoll of Funafuti, Ellice Group " (Mammals). 

 Mem. Aust. Mus., 3, p. 165. 



* In my paper on the " Vegetation of the Kermadecs " (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 42, 

 p. 173) I have included the candlenut (Aleurites moluccana) and the Polynesian ti (Cordy- 

 line termiyialis) in the list of introduced plants, as they are not distributed generally in 

 the forest, but are found only in habitable parts of Sunday Island, where they appear 

 to be survivors of the abandoned cultivations of a Native race. 



