1954. _Nyctimene major scitulus_, Laurie and Hill, List of land mammals of New Guinea, Celebes and adjacent islands, p. 47, June 30. 1862. _Harpyia pallasi_, Gerrard, Catalogue of the bones ... British Museum, p. 58. 1870. _Harpyia cephalotes_, Gray, Catalogue of monkeys, lemurs and fruit-eating bats in the British Museum, p. 121. 1878. _Harpyia major_, Dobson, Catalogue of the Chiroptera ... British Museum, p. 90; 1879, Trouessart, Rev. Mag. Zool., 3:207; 1887, Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 323; 1888, Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 476; 1897, Trouessart, Catalogus Mammalium ..., 1:87. 1899. _Cephalotes major_, Trouessart, Catalogus Mammalium ..., 2:1277. 1899. _Gelasinus major_, Matschie, Die Megachiroptera ... naturkunde, p. 84; 1904, Trouessart, Catalogus Mammalium ..., Suppl., p. 64. _Specimens examined_ (four males and one female; dried skins with skulls inside).--Florida in October, 24397, 24413, 24418, 24419. _Measurements._--External measurements of four males and one female are, respectively, as follows: Length of head and body, 134, 128, 134, 134, 136; tail vertebrae, 28, 23, 27, 26, 21; hind foot, 20, 16, 19, 16, 21; ear, 17, 17, 17, 17, 18; length of forearm, 73.8, 68.0, 74.0, 73.6, 78.0. _Remarks._--_Nyctimene major scitulus_ has been recorded only from the western chain of islands in the Solomons (see Fig. 15). Specimens examined by me agree well in external dimensions and color with specimens described by Andersen (1912:712) and Troughton (1931:206-207). ZOOGEOGRAPHY AND SPECIATION De Beaufort (1951:113) considered bats of "less zoogeographical importance" than other mammals because the ocean is not an "absolute barrier to their dispersal." Volant animals are ecologically terrestrial and therefore are more nearly earthbound than De Beaufort's remarks would suggest (see Miller, 1966:10). Indeed, many kinds of volant animals are endemic to the Solomons. Birds, for example, are well adapted for flight but pose some of the most complex zoogeographic problems in the area of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands (Mayr, 1940:198; 1942:81-83; Koopman, 1957). Rapid speciation can take place in any situation where there is a high degree of isolation (Wright, 1931; Lack, 1947). In fact, isolation is a most important factor in speciation of insular populations (Baker, 1951:55). The one genus, nine species, and 19 subspecies of megachiropterans that are endemic to the Solomons (Table 4) obviously indicate that bats, although volant, can be restricted to one or more islands long enough for new taxa to evolve. TABLE 4. A Summary of the Kinds of Megachiropteran Bats in the Solomon Islands and Their Affinities with Faunas of Adjacent Islands.