474 



ISLAND LIFE 



PART II 



considered to possess no indigenous mammalia ; it has no 

 snakes, and only one frog; it possesses (living or quite 

 recently extinct) an extensive group of birds incapable 

 of flight ; and its productions generally are wonderfully 

 isolated, and seem to bear no predominant or close rela- 

 tion to those of Australia or any other continent. These 

 are the characteristics of an oceanic island; and thus 

 we find that the inferences from its physical structure 

 and those from its forms of life directly contradict each 

 other. Let us see how far a closer examination of the latter 

 will enable us to account for this apparent contradiction. 



Mammalia of New Zealand. — The only undoubtedly 

 indigenous mammalia appear to be two species of bats, 

 one of which {Scotophilus tuhermlahts) is, according to 

 Mr. Dobson, identical with an Australian form, while the 

 other (Mystacina hoherctdata) forms a very remarkable 

 and isolated genus of Emballonuridae, a family which 

 extends throughout all the tropical regions of the globe. 

 The genus Mystacina was formerly considered to belong 

 to the American Phyllostomidae, but this has been shown 

 to be an error.-^ The poverty of New Zealand in bats is 

 very remarkable when compared with our own islands 

 where there are at least twelve distinct species, though 

 we have a far less favourable climate. 



Of the existence of truly indigenous land mammals in 

 New Zealand there is at present no positive evidence, but 

 there is some reason to believe that one if not two species 

 may be found there. The Maoris say that before Europeans 

 came to their country a forest-rat abounded and was largely 

 used for food. They believe that their ancestors brought 

 it with them when they first came to the country ; but it 

 has now become almost, if not quite, exterminated by the 

 European brown rat. What this native animal was is still 

 somewhat doubtful. Several specimens have been caught 

 at different times which have been declared by the natives 

 to be the true Kiore Maori — as they term it, but these have 

 usually proved on examination to be either the European 

 black rat or some of the native Australian rats which now 



1 Dobson on the Classification of Chiroptera {Ann. and Mag. of Nat. 

 Hist. Nov. 1875). 



