380 ME. OLDFIELD THOMAS ON MAMMALS 



together, and during three months only some five days were fine. A variety of the 

 Common Rat was soon attracted to our camp, where it became quite a nuisance. 

 In Negros my camp was also infested with Rats, many of which we trapped. 



" The distribution of Mammalia throughout the Philippine Archipelago is most 

 interesting, but the larger islands are by no means thoroughly explored — more 

 especially Mindoro, Mindanao, and the Pacific coast of North and Central Luzon. 



" In the larger islands of Luzon, Mindoro, Panay, Negros, and Cebu, we find neither 

 Tarsius, Galeopitkecus, nor Sciurus; but all these Bornean genera are found in Samar 

 and Leite. Tarsius is wanting from Mindanao and Bohol, but when the larger island 

 is explored it will doubtless be met with there also. 



" In Luzon and Mindoro no indigenous Felis has yet been discovered ; this genus 

 occurring in Panay, Negros, and Cebu. Though it has not yet been obtained in 

 Mindanao, I expect it will be eventually discovered in that great island. 



" It is possible that Felis does not occur in Samar and Leite, as these islands are 

 much more to the east and may have missed the migration — as apparently the Negros, 

 Panay, and Cebu group have missed that of Sciurus and other genera. If Felis is 

 confined to the Negros group, it seems probable that Man was the agent of intro- 

 duction of this Bornean animal. 



" Luzon has many wonderful Rodents peculiar to it, notably such genera as Phloeomys 

 and Crateromys. In the island of Marinduque, Phloeomys also occurs ; but this island, 

 by its birds alone, is really a part of Luzon, from which island it is separated by a strait 

 equal, however, to that which separates Luzon from Mindoro. 



" Mindoro is remarkable for its Tamarau (Bubalus mindorensis), an animal perhaps 

 more nearly allied to the Anoa of Celebes than to any other. It is interesting to 

 notice the absence of such Bornean genera as Tupaia, Myclaus, Arctictis, Hystrix, and 

 Sciurus, which are found in Palawan and the Calamianes, but have never been able to 

 cross into Mindoro. There are, however, several Palawan birds in Mindoro which are 

 not met with in any other of the true Philippine Islands. 



" In the west-central islands Panay, Negros, and Cebu, we find a paucity of Mammals, 

 giving one the idea that any land-connection with Mindauao must have been either 

 very ancient or of brief duration ; while in the east-central islands Samar, Leite, and 

 Bohol, we meet with several genera in common with Mindanao and Borneo. It is 

 perhaps possible to state with some certainty that the true Philippine group has 

 received no Mammals from Borneo via Palawan, but several genera from Borneo 

 and perhaps Celebes via Mindanao, which have been unable to spread further north 

 than Samar ; and at that period of migration there was no land-connection with 

 North-west Mindanao and the Negros group. Luzon probably received its peculiar 

 Rodents vid Formosa, and they were unable to spread beyond that island ; but at 

 present the highlands of Formosa are a terra incognita. 



