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Show 130 MR. K. ANDERSEN ON BATS [May 16, Diagnosis. Subbadius-type (cf. p. 123). Tlie smallest species in the genus : forearm 34'2 mm. Details. The very characteristic shape of the connecting process, formed as a long, sharply pointed, slightly curved " horn, prevents the confusion of this (and the next-following) species with any of the foregoing forms. Also the shape of the lancet is peculiar: short, broad, almost as an equilateral triangle ; but I doubt that this character, in a large series, will prove to be quite as safe a guide for the discrimination of the species as the shape of the connecting process ; there is, in all species of Rhinolophus, a little more individual variation in the lancet than in other parts of the nose-leaves. The sella is, essentially, of the minor-type (not as in gracilis), much broader at base than at summit; below the constriction the margins are almost parallel, above the constriction slightly converging; the summit somewhat more subacute * than in any of the foregoing species; tip of sella bent forwards. Plagiopatagium inserted a trifle above the ankle. The colour (a little faded) is probably not very different from that of Rh. lepidus. Skull. Unknown. I have seen a small fragment only; it seems to be of the minor-type. Dentition (one example). p3 external. p2 and pt in contact, p2 in row ; cusp small, but distinct. Measurements. On p. 132. Distribution. Nepal (type locality). Garo Hills f . (The only example of this species in the British Museum is without exact indication of locality.) Technical name. Hodgson's " Vespertilio subbadia" (J. A. S. B. x. pt. ii. (Nov. 1841) p. 908), from the " Central Region of the Himalayas," is a nomen nudum (no word of description). The head of this Bat is figured in his unpublished drawings (pi. 8. fig. 3) ; it is not a Rhinolophus, but a Hipposiderus, probably H. bicolor or an allied form. * I emphasise this peculiarity (and, on the whole, enter into a detailed description of the sella), because it is this " pattern " of sella which has been carried to an extreme in some of the Ethiopian and W . Palaearctic representatives of the subbadius - type (Rh. empusa and blasii; cf. the " General Remarks," pp. 136-37). f In Dobson's ‘ Monograph ' and ‘ Catalogue ' (1. s. c.) Rli. garoensis ( = subbadius) is recorded from Masuri. The species is very likely to occur there, only it must be said that till now there is no proof. Its alleged occurrence in Masuri can be traced back to two examples in the British Museum (Capt. Hutton) identified by Dobson with Rh. garoensis. They are, however, Rh. monticola, differing in all important points (process, lancet, size) from his own original description of garoensis. Quite as in the case of Rh. petersi: as Dobson had no longer access to the type, he lost the precise idea of it. Still later (Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1880, pp. 175-76) he gave up the separation of Rh. garoensis as a distinct species, and then we arrive at the stage when all small Indian and E. Palaearctic Rhinolophi with a projecting process were called Rh. minor, irrespective of differences in the skull, the process, the sella, lancet, general size, and geographical habitat. What led Dobson to this conclusion was the fact that the position of the lower p3 varies in individuals from the same locality (which, however, also is the case in all the more primitive species of the simplex group, as high up in the series as Rh. affinis), and he was quite right in arguing that, from an exclusively taxonomic point of view, this character had no value; but he overlooked the other and more important characters by which the members of his composite species differ from each other, |
