CH. II] POLYNESIAN REGION. 77 



that has been proposed is the Polynesian adopted by Prof. 

 Heilprin 1 . This is meant to include the scattered islands 

 to the east of Australia, comprised between lat. 20 N. 

 and lat. 40 S. Prof. Heilprin admits that this region is 

 defined " more by negative than by positive characters," a 

 Decessary admission, though not convincing of the justice 

 of framing it. He distinguishes it by the absence of all 

 Mammalia except a few bats, Pteropidae and Vespertilio- 

 nidae. The birds include no special families excepting 

 only the Rhinochetidae and the Didunculidse and Drepani- 

 didae. All the other families are either exclusively 

 Australian types or are birds of a wider range, including 

 Australia. Among lizards the most remarkable form is 

 the Iguanid Brachylophus from the Fijis. The same 

 islands harbour three species belonging to the frog genus 

 Comufer and a toad, Bufo dialophus. If he includes, 

 which appears probable though there is no definite 

 statement upon the point, the Solomon Islands in this 

 group, we can add to his list as distinctive of the " region " 

 the huge Rana gwppyi, a species of the Marsupial genus 

 Guscus, besides a crocodile, several snakes, and some more 

 lizards and Amphibia. There is no remarkable assemblage 

 of peculiar genera such as differentiate the other regions ; 

 the differences that do characterise this so-called region 

 are merely due to the isolation of the different islands 

 which are either (as in the case of the Solomon Islands 

 according to Blanford) remnants of former land connection 

 with Australia or New Guinea, or oceanic islands which 

 have been populated from the nearest mainland, i.e. 

 1 Called Nesogsea by Prof. Gill, Proe. Biol. Soc. Washington, Vol. i. 



