THE AUSTRALIAN REGION 21 



Section III. — Subdivision of the Australian 

 Region 



The Australian Region may be most conveniently 

 divided into rive Sub-regions (see Plate II., p. 50); these 

 are — 



(1) The Austral Sub-region, containing — The island- 

 continent of Australia, with the dependent island 

 Tasmania. 



(2) The Papuan Sub-region, containing — The islands 

 lying to the north of Australia, including (a) the Timor 

 group from Lombok to Timor-Laut ; (6) the Moluccas, of 

 which the chief islands are Morty, Batchian, Gilolo, Bouru, 

 and Ceram ; (c) the large island of New Guinea ; (d) the 

 New Britain group, containing New Britain, New Ireland, 

 the Admiralty Islands, and the Solomon group. 



(3) The Maorian Sub-region, containing — The two 

 islands of New Zealand, together with their outliers the 

 Norfolk, Kermadec, and Chatham Islands, as also the 

 Auckland, Campbell, and Macquarie Islands. 



(4) The Polynesian Sub-region.containmg — The various 

 islands in the Pacific, from the Ladrones in the north-west 

 to the Society and Marquesas in the south-east, of which 

 the principal are New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, and 

 the Fiji and Samoan groups. 



(5) The Hawaiian Sub-region, containing — The Sand- 

 wich-Island group. 



Of these, only the first two, the Austral and Papuan 

 Sub-regions, need be considered in detail, as there are, 

 practically speaking, no mammalian inhabitants, except 

 Bats, in the other three Sub-regions. 



