NATIVE RACES 27 ! 



Celebes, it was suggested that it might have been carried from that island to the 

 Aru group. After giving this list of seventeen truly Papuan and two Aru species, 

 Dr. A. R. Wallace remarked that we have here no sign of any approach to the 

 mammalian fauna of the Oriental region, for though pigs have appeared, rats and 

 mice seem to be wanting. At the present day the number of species of Papuan 

 mammals other than bats considerably exceeds a hundred, these being referable to 

 about twenty-eight generic types, of which eleven are referable to the rodent 

 family Muridce (rats and mice). Advanced naturalists would doubtless still further 

 augment the number of rodent genera, for, as already mentioned, it has been 

 proposed to split up the Australasian rats usually included in the typical Mus into 

 several distinct generic groups. Following, however, the general arrangement, it 

 is noteworthy that, apart from Mus, all the Papuan genera of rats, except Uromys, 

 which extends to Celebes, are peculiar to the Australasian region. Nor is this all, 

 for seven of the genera are exclusively confined to Papua, while the prehensile- 

 tailed rats of an eighth genus (Pogonomys) are restricted to Papua and the islands 

 of the D'Entrecasteaux group. It is, therefore, clear that in place of having none 

 at all, New Guinea has a rodent-fauna fully as distinct and peculiar as its marsupials 

 and monotremes. Indeed, this scarcely expresses the true state of the case ade- 

 quately, for the number of peculiar Papuan generic types of rats is considerably 

 larger than that of marsupials and monotremes. That the ancestral Papuan rats 

 reached their present home by way of a land-connection with Asia through the 

 Malay area is practically certain ; and this being so, it seems at first sight probable 

 that marsupials followed the same route; though this may have been the case, 

 the subject opens up complicated questions which it would take too long to discuss. 

 Very noticeable is the complete absence of Insectivora (shrews, tupais, gymnuras, 

 and hedgehogs) from the Papuan fauna ; but this may perhaps be accounted for 

 by assuming the connection between Malaya and Papua to have been interrupted 

 and not long continued, and that rodents were better fitted than insectivores to 

 cross the obstacles, or to traverse speedily the narrow bridge. As mentioned below, 

 the two species of swine included in the list of Papuan mammals were probably 

 introduced by human agency from Malaya. Eliminating these, it will be found that 

 the mammalian fauna of Papua consists solely of bats, rats, marsupials, and mono- 

 tremes. The list includes rather more than forty species of bats. If we add this to 

 the list of other groups — minus the two pigs — the indigenous mammalian fauna of 

 Papua at present known to science comprises about one hundred and fifty species. 

 Papuasians, or Oceanic Negroes, as they are termed by anthrop- 

 ologists, include the Papuans of New Guinea and the Melanesians 

 who constitute the majority of the inhabitants of the islands of the western 

 Pacific, such as New Ireland, New Britain, the Solomons, the Louisiades, the New 

 Hebrides, New Caledonia, and Fiji, and form a separate branch of the Negro stock. 

 Their chief physical distinction from African Negroes lies in the fact that in the 

 skulls of the men the ridges above the eye-sockets are generally well developed, 

 instead of this region being nearly flat. Usually also the nose is narrower and 

 more prominent, especially in New Guinea and the neighbouring islands, and the 

 skull itself is in most cases higher and narrower, although some skulls are essentially 

 of the African type. The hair on the scalp grows in tufts, is very luxuriant, 



