48 THE GEOGRAPHY OF MAMMALS 



Section X. — The Polynesian Sub-region 



The Polynesian Sub-region includes all the numerous 

 and scattered island groups of the Pacific, from the Ladrones 

 and Carolines in the west to the Marquesas in the east, 

 with the exception of the Sandwich Islands, which, owing 

 to their many peculiarities, must be kept apart as a separate 

 Sub-region. 



There is very little to be said concerning the Polynesian 

 Sub-region so far as mammals are concerned. As is always 

 the case with oceanic islands — that is, islands that do not 

 seem to have ever been directly connected with any of the 

 great land-masses of the globe — the Mammal-fauna of 

 Polynesia is practically non-existent, the only exception 

 being a certain number of Bats, which are creatures 

 able to traverse the intermediate sea-areas, and so more 

 resembling birds than ordinary mammals in their dis- 

 tribution. 



There are, however, besides the Bats, three or four 

 species of the cosmopolitan genus Mus (Mice and Rats), 

 recorded to occur in Polynesia, whether truly indigenous 

 or the modified descendants of introduced species it is 

 impossible to say. 



Of the eleven species of Bats which have been regis- 

 tered as Polynesian, eight are peculiar to the Sub-region, 

 two extend into Papua, and one ranges even as far as the 

 Oriental Region. 



But, looking to the extreme poverty of the Mammal- 

 fauna, it is evident that, to ascertain the general character 

 of the Sub-region, we must turn to the Birds. These, as 

 shown by the excellent summary of Polynesian Ornithology 



