DISTRIBUTION OF INSECTIVORES, BATS, AND RODENTS 263 



2. About 230 species of Insectivores are recognized, 

 arranged in forty-one genera. 



3. The most numerous and all-pervading group of 

 Insectivores is the Shrews (Soricidie), of which upwards 

 of 120 species are known. 



4. Many of the families of Insectivores are excessively 

 local in distribution, the Kaguans and Tree-shrews being 

 peculiar to the Oriental Region, the Elephant-shrews and 

 Golden Moles to Africa, the Solenodonts to the Greater 

 Antilles, and the Tenrecs to Madagascar. 



Section III. — Distribution of Bats 



(a) Introductory Remarks 



The Bats, which constitute the Order Chiroptera, are, 

 after the Rodents, the most numerous of all mammals, 

 upwards of 530 species being already recognized, and many 

 others probably awaiting further researches. As regards 

 their distribution, it must be recollected that their powers 

 of flight, which render them capable of passing over tracts 

 of water that could not be crossed by other small mammals, 

 place them in a somewhat different category from ordinary 

 Mammals. At the same time the mode of their occur- 

 rence on the earth's surface presents many interesting 

 features, concerning which a few words should be said. 

 In these remarks, however, we shall be brief, as the Bats 

 are not creatures of general interest, and as a rule are 

 little studied except by the scientific worker. 



