To a large extent the information obtained about the mammals is negative in nature. In 1887 the officers of the Flying Fish and J. J. Lister collected specimens of two rats, a large fruit-bat and a shrew (all indigenous to the island), and saw a small, insectivorous bat. C. W. Andrews took examples of all five species in 1896-97, but was unable to make any further additions to the list.
C. A. Gibson-Hill,' A Note on the Mammals of Christmas Island', The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Volume 18, 1947