Bougainville and Choiseul, about 60 miles apart, have seven species of megachiropterans in common (Table 5). Fauro, 25 miles southeast of Bougainville and 35 miles west of Choiseul, shares five species with each of these islands (Fig. 16). _Pteralopex atrata_ and _Pteropus rayneri_ occur on Choiseul and on Bougainville, but not on Fauro. Individuals of these species are the largest fruit bats in the Solomons, and their absence on Fauro suggests, therefore, that this small island is ecologically unsuitable, at least in some months, for the support of populations of bats that require relatively large amounts of food. The small size of the island is consistent with this hypothesis, but several other islands as small as Fauro do support populations of the large kinds of _Pteropus_, at least in some months. TABLE 5. A Summary of Distribution of All Species of Megachiropteran Bats Known from the Solomons. Only Islands Well Known Faunistically Are Listed. Column headings: A: Bougainville I: Vella Lavella B: Choiseul J: Kolombangara C: Santa Ysabel K: Russell D: Ndai L: Guadalcanal E: Malaita M: San Cristobal F: Florida N: Ugi G: Fauro O: Rennell H: Shortland P: Ontong Java ===================+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+== SPECIES | A| B| C| D| E| F| G| H| I| J| K| L| M| N| O| P -------------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-- R. amplexicaudatus | X| X| X| | X| | X| | | X| | X| | | | P. atrata | X| X| X| | | | | | | | | X| | | | Pt. hypomelanus | | | | | | | | | | | X| | | | | Pt. admiralitatum | | | | X| | | | X| X| | X| X| | | | Pt. tonganus | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | X| Pt. howensis | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | X Pt. rayneri | X| X| X| | X| | | | X| X| | X| X| X| X| Pt. woodfordi | | | | | | | X| | | X| X| X| | | | Pt. mahaganus | X| | X| | | | | | | | | | | | | D. inermis | X| X| X| | X| X| X| X| X| | | X| X| X| X| M. lagochilus | X| X| | | | X| X| | | X| | X| X| | | M. woodfordi | X| X| | | | | X| X| | | X| X| | | | M. aurantius | | X| | | | X| | | | | | | | | | N. albiventer | X| X| X| | | | X| | | X| | X| | | | N. major | | X| | | | X| | X| | | | X| | | | N. malaitensis | | | | | X| | | | | | | | | | | +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-- Totals | 8| 9| 6| 1| 4| 4| 6| 4| 3| 5| 4|10| 3| 2| 3| 1 -------------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--