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Show 96 MR. E. R. ALSTON ON A NEW PTEROPUS. [Jan. 20, 4. On a new Species of Pteropus from Samoa. By EDWARD R. ALSTON, F.Z.S. [Received December 4, 1873.] (Plate XIV.) The Rev. Canon Tristram has kindly sent me for examination a small collection of Bats, which has been forwarded to him from Samoa by the Rev. S. J. Whitmee. It consists of four specimens preserved in spirits-one of Emballonura semicaudata'(Peale)*, two young examples of a Pteropus, apparently referable to P.fla-vicollis, Grayt, and an adult male Fruit-Bat of a distinct species. After a careful investigation I believe this last to be an undescribed form, and have much pleasure in naming it (at Canon Tristram's suggestion) in honour of Mr. Whitmee, who has devoted much attention to the elucidation of the Samoan fauna. PTEROPUS WHITMEEI, sp. n. (PI. XIV.) Face and cheeks dark grey, grizzled with yellowish hairs ; crown of the head and occiput pale yellow ; nape, sides of neck, and shoulders bright golden bay ; back between the wings rich brown-black, rump slightly washed with rufous ; chin black ; lower surface of the body grizzled rufous, the shorter fur being brown and the longer hairs reddish yellow ; limbs and flying-membrane dark brown; arms and thighs thinly clad both above and below with long hairs. Measurements :- in. Length of head 2*15 ear -85 forearm 4*45 thumb 1-45 first finger 3«15 second finger 7-35 third finger 6'05 fourth finger 5-45 Of the described species of Fruit-Bat, this is most nearly allied to P. vitiensis, Gray J, from the Feejees, of which it may probably be regarded as the Samoan representative ; but it is at once distinguished from that species by its black back, by the totally different shade of the bay of the nape, and by the absence of the conspicuous yellow border across the shoulders. The present specimen is also considerably smaller than the type of P. vitiensis in the British Museum, and the first upper premolar is markedly larger. P. samoensis, Peale §, is a much larger animal, and has the back uniform in colour with the lower parts. * Vespertilio semicaudatus, Peale, Zool. U.S. Expl. Exp. (1848) p 23- Em ballonurafuliginosa, Tomes, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 77 (cf. Peters, Monatsb. Akad Berlin, 1867, p. 480). t Catalogue of Monkeys, Lemurs, and Fruit-Bats (1870), p 107 \ Cat. Monkeys, &c. p. 109. § Zool. U. S. Expl. Exp. p. 20. |
