The history and current status of bats on western India Ocean islands, excluding Madagascar, is reviewed. Attention is drawn to the total extinction of P. subniger (Mauritius and Reunion), and to the critical rarity of both P. rodricensis (Rodrigues) and Coleura seychellensis (granitic Seychelles). Scotophilus borbonicus (Reunion) has not been seen in over a century, but could still survive. P. livingstonii, now also very rare and vulnerable, is recorded for the 1st time from Moheli (Comoros). The continued existence in the Comoros of the endemic Rousettus obliviosus, last collected in 1903, was not confirmed.