DEER — WILD PIGS 



273 



Limnomys, asper is another New Guinea murine representing a genus by itself, 

 and belonging to the same exclusively Australasian section. The same is likewise 

 the case with the three New Guinea rats respectively known as Hyomys meelci, 

 Mallomys rothschildi, and Anisomys imitator; the last of these being a large 

 species easily recognised by the peculiar structure of its incisor teeth, which are 

 quite unlike those of any other rat. 



Among more typical New Guinea Muriclw are several species generally 

 included in the cosmopolitan genus Mus, together with about a dozen referable to 

 the mosaic-tailed Austro-Malay Uromys, while another dozen or so, some of which 

 are natives of the smaller islands, represent the distinctively Papuan genus 

 Pogonomys, which, although nearly related to the mosaic-tailed rats, has the scales 

 on the tail overlapping. Forbes's rat, of the mountains of New Guinea, which had 

 been made the type of a distinct genus, Chiruromys, is now included in Pogonomys, 

 under the name of P. forbesi. Yet another peculiar genus of New Guinea mice has 

 been described as Lor •entzimys nouhuysii; it is a small jumping species, character- 

 ised by its very long and slender tail, large hind-feet, and large, pointed ears. 



Although no deer are found in New Guinea itself, a few species 

 are met in some of the smaller islands of the Papuan province, at 

 least some of which appear to have been introduced. The island of Timor, for 

 instance, which is included in the Malay province, is inhabited by a local race 

 (Cervus, or Rusa, hippelaphus timoriensis) of the Javanese rusa deer, and a second 

 race (C. h. moluccensis) is found in the Moluccas. The first of these, it is suspected, 

 may have been introduced by the Malays, and it is quite probable that the same 

 may hold good in the case of the second. According to a recent writer (Dr. L. F. 

 de Beaufort), the Moluccan rusa was introduced from Ceram into the Aru Islands 

 by Governor Cleerens about the year 1855. The skins of two young deer recently 

 received from the Aru Islands, which are probably the descendants of the specimens 

 introduced from Ceram, were examined by the naturalist just mentioned. To a 

 certain extent the fact that the deer in the Aru Islands have been introduced 

 supports the view that those of the Moluccas and Celebes are not indigenous. 



Wild pigs, which have been referred to two species, Sus niger 

 and S. pa/pucnsis, are common in New Guinea and many of the 

 smaller Papuan and Melanesian islands, but it has long been a disputed point whether 

 these pigs of New Guinea., the Bismarck Archipelago, and the Caroline Islands are 

 indigenous, or have been introduced by human agency. The question is of some im- 

 portance, for upon the answer depends in some degree the line of division between 

 the Oriental region and the Australasian realm. A German naturalist, Mr. Max 

 Bauschke, after pointing out that these swine are specifically distinct from ordinary 

 European pigs, and more nearly related to Oriental species, states that there is good 

 reason for the belief that during the Miocene or middle portion of the Tertiary 

 epoch the islands of the Malay Archipelago were more or less completely connected 

 with one another and with the Asiatic mainland. During this connection the 

 Malay species known as S. vittatus made its entrance into Java, but proceeded 

 no farther east ; its place in Borneo, Celebes, the Philippines, and the northern 

 Moluccas being taken by the distinct S. verrucosus. From this it follows that 

 if truly wild swine are found in New Guinea, they must be of the verrucosus type, 

 vol. in. — 18 



