324 FAUNA OF ANDAMANS AND NICOBARS 



be closely associated with man throughout the Malayan region. 

 Moreover, the period of time necessary to the development of the 

 peculiarities of the native Andamanese would undoubtedly be 

 ample to allow the formation of any of the species known from 

 either group of islands, since in a biologic sense it has been vastly 

 longer to the smaller, more rapidly breeding, animals than to man. 

 The introduction, intentional or otherwise, of a pig, a monkey, 

 a palm-civet, two or three species of rats, a shrew, and perhaps 

 also a tree-shrew, at about the time when the various islands were 

 peopled by their present human inhabitants, would amply account 

 for the existence of the present mammal fauna with its striking 

 peculiarities." 



The following tabular summary shows the distribution of the 

 fauna among the islands. (The letter A indicates material obtained 

 by Dr Abbott, the letter R a previous record ; an asterisk denotes 

 occurrence beyond the Andamans and Nicobars ; doubtful species 

 have a note of interrogation placed against them ; and those in 

 italics have been described as new from the collections made 

 during the cruise of the Terrapin) : — 



were it indigenous and not a stray introduction — one would expect to find on 

 others of the islands (such as Kachal) similar in surface and vegetation to Great 

 and Little Nicobar. It no doubt was established in these two last before they 

 became disunited, as sufficient time has elapsed for a distinct variation to occur, 

 while the far greater depth of sea between them and Kachal would indicate a 

 separation anterior to the arrival of the species. 



[Table 



