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INTRODUCTION

The Solomon Islands constitute an archipelago east of the large island of New Guinea and more than a thousand miles off the northeastern coast of Australia. This archipelago, which is principally of volcanic origin although sedimentary layers of calcareous rocks occur on many islands (Lever, 1934; Belkin, 1962), consists of a double chain of islands having a northwest-southeast axis of more than 600 miles. The archipelago is more or less an extension of New Guinea and in fact is connected to it in stepping-stone fashion by New Britain, New Ireland, and numerous smaller islands (see Fig. 1).

Australia and New Guinea have many kinds of mammals but the only terrestrial mammals in the Solomon Islands are a species of the genus Phalanger (order Marsupialia), and several species of four genera of rodents, one genus of which probably was introduced by man. Additionally, several kinds of bats have reached and colonized the Solomon Islands.