When was the masked palm civet (Paguma larvata) introduced into Japan and how has its habitat been extended? These problems have so far been discussed but no definite conclusion has been reached yet.
The writer sent out questionaries to the game rangers in Shizuoka Prefecture asking them whether the animal lives or not in the area under their charge. Their answers seem to indicate that its habitat extends from four source areas. Therefore it is supposed that the civet was imported several times into several areas in the Prefecture from several places of origin.

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福岡県山門郡瀬高町にある清水山の照葉樹林地域 (標高40～200m) で, 1960年11月から1972年7月までの間に採集されたスミスネズミ78頭について, その繁殖状態を調査した。
清水山におけるスミスネズミの繁殖活動はおそらく10月頃から始まり, 翌年の4月中には終了すると考えられる。この間, 11月から2月にかけては活発な繁殖活動がみられ, るが, 3月には活動は低下し, 交尾が行なわれるのはこの頃までである。その繁殖期に生まれた若令獣で最もはやくとれたのは12月であるが, 繁殖期後期になるにしたがって若令獣は次第に増加し, 5月以後は若令獣のみになった。それ故, 夏を越して繁殖期に入った成獣は5月頃までに死亡し, 若令獣とおきかわってしまうことが想像され, 清水山のスミスネズミの寿命は一般に1年ぐらいと判断される。なお, 繁殖期の前半に生まれたものは, その繁殖期の期間中に性成熟をして繁殖活動に参加する。
妊娠雌13頭の胎児数は2～7, 平均4.1で, これはこれまでに報告された日本各地のスミスネズミ個体群のそれより多い。妊娠雌のうち6頭までが同時に哺乳を行なっており, 1繁殖期中に少なくとも2回の妊娠は普通におこる。なお, 胎児数7と6をもつ雌各1頭で, 萎縮胎児がそれぞれ3胎と1胎みられた。

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The newly proposed method of taxonomic analysis employing the binomial distribution seems to be usefull to clarify the presence of the reproductive isolation among the members of a population from a continuous region. The binomial distribution is always observed in a local population composed of individuals belonging to a single biological species, but not in a false population containing two or more such species. The reason is briefly explained in the following lines.
In a true local population, variation of a morphological character under the influence of several genes generally shows the normal distribution, so that an allelomorphic type refered to the left or the right half of the distribution always appears at the rate of one half. Therefore, all possible combinations of such allelomorphic types of several qualified characters may occur in the population. Each of the qualified characters here used is composed of two allelomorphic types which have an appearance ratio of one to one, and are not correlated to the other characters and independent with sex, age, season, etc.
If the allelomorphic types of each of the qualified characters are expressed by a capital and a small letters, A a, B b, etc., variations in the number of capital letters in each individual of the true population always constitute a binomial distribution following the laws of combination and probability. But, such binomial distribution cannot occur in a false population composed of two or more distinct species, for the individuals are segregated by the reproductive isolation and random distributions of allelomorphic types are greatly disturbed.
Close correlations between the nature of population and the binomial distribution were confirmed in a true population of Clethriononiys bedfordiae from the main island of Hokkaido and in a false population composed of C. sikotanensis and C. rex from Rishiri Island, off Hokkaido.

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No cleavage line patterns or tention lines of the skin of the Japanese monkey, Macaca f uscata (BLYTH, 1875) have been still demonstrated. The present investigation was made to obtain the information on skin tention lines of the Japanese monkey. In the present investigation, 3 male Japanese monkeys, ranging in CrownRump length from 410 to 600 mm, were used (Table 1) . All of the materials were fixed in formalin. The puncture wounds in the materials were prepared by the modified method (WAKURI, 1961a) of GARDNER & RAYBUCH (1951) .
The patterns of the tention lines were found to be constant in the skin of all Japanese monkeys. The patterns of some variation were explainable on the basis that in the Japanese monkey there was little variation in body type. The patterns of the skin cleavage for the entire body of the Japanese monkey mostly were similar to that of the younger human fetus (50-60 mm) . When the pattern of the Japanese monkey is compared with the quadripeds (cat, goat, rabbit, pig, bovine fetus), striking differences could be noticed. The patterns of the tention lines in the Japanese monkey resemble rather to that of man (a diped) than that of the quadripeds.
The patterns of the tention lines in the skin of the extremities of the Japanese monkey mostly appear parallel to the long axis of the extremity. However, in the anterior region of the knee, some transverse tention lines are observed. The direction of the skin cleavage in such region seems to be due to the adaptation of the cutis fibers to the mechanical function of the region.

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The examined materials comprise 9 species, 179 individuals of the suborder Microchiroptera collected in Nagano Pref., central Japan.
1) . Rhinolophus cornutus. A total 34 specimens was examined without finding any instance of variation. 2) . Rhinolophus ferrumequinum. In this species 13 variants were found in 54 specimens. They have one or more P 3 missing. A record of the missing teeth may be summarized as follows: L (left) P³, L and R (right) P₃, catalogue number 1; LP3, no. 2; RP³, no. 3; L & RP³ and RP₃, no. 4; L & RP₃, nos. 5 & 6; LP₃, no. 7; RP₃, no. 8; L & RP₃, no. 9; RP₃, no. 10; LP₃, no. 11; LP³ and LP₃, no. 12; L & RP³, no. 13. 3) . Myotis nattereri. No variations were found in 2 specimens. 4) . Myotis macrodactylus. 3 variants were found in 27 specimens. They have one or two upper 3rd premolar missing. Missing teeth : L & RP³, no. 1; RP³, no. 2; LP³, no. 3. 5) . Nyctalus lasiopterus. 2 variants were found in 8 specimens. One lacks L & RP³, and the other lacks RP³. 6) . Pipistrellus abrarnus. One has an extra incisor tooth in 14 specimens examined. There were no instance of variation of P 3. 7) . No variations were found in Plecotus auritus, 3 specimens; Miniopterus schreihersi, 33 specimens; Murina leucogaster, 4 specimens.

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The author had an opportunity to examine two series of Miniopterus recently collected from Agari-go cave and Tamina-no-ho cave in Okinoerabu Island, the Ryukyu Islands, southern Japan. These are the first record of Miniopterus from this island.
According to the classification proposed by Tate (1941), these populations evidently belong to M. schreibersi, a medium group of the genus. However, the differences in the forearm and the greatest length of skull between the Okinoerabu and the Hond or Iriomote populations are statistically remarkable and fully exceed the convenient level of taxonomic difference by Mayr, et al 1953. Consequently, the taxonomic status of the Okinoerabu populations must be examined carefully.

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