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Show 1866.] DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE PTEROPINE BATS. 63 my catalogue prepared more than twelve years ago, adding the descriptions of the new species which have been received during that period. I am aware that the best that can be done can only be an essay, leaving much to be corrected and modified. Since I formerly worked on this group, a number of new species have been described ; and M . Gervais, M . de Saussure, and Dr. Peters have published excellent essays, describing the external form, the skulls, dentition, and sometimes the skeletons of different species. I have great advantages for this undertaking. I have a very large collection under m y care, perhaps the largest yet formed in Europe, containing many of the specimens on which species have been founded by different English and foreign authors, those species having been described from the specimens then in the British M u seum, or since received from the different European museums. I can lay the whole series of the specimens of each genus or group out before me and examine and compare them in detail, and repeat the operation as often as I desire. I believe that no such examination of a large collection has been made since M . Geoffroy undertook his series of monographs of different families of Mammalia in the Paris Museum, shortly after Napoleon's accession; and I have the advantage of having a collection much more numerous ; indeed, judging by the estimate of the Primates given in his ' Catalogue of Primates,' it must be twice or nearly three times as numerous in specimens as the Museum in Paris. I have made great progress in this catalogue, some specimens of which have already been laid before the Society; and the part containing the Primates is now in the press, and I hope it will appear in the course of this spring. I am aware that some zoologists will complain that the characters are too short; but short as they are, they are the result of much study and analysis. They are the characters that appear to m e best suited to distinguish each species from its allies, after a careful examination of a long suite of specimens of each species placed side by side, and with its allies. It is a labour of love, and I hope to complete the examination and description of the species of the class; but at m y age I have many hindrances. I am fortunately greatly assisted in m y study by my excellent helper, Mr. Edward Gerrard, who has a very extensive knowledge of the living and preserved specimens and their osteology ; and his modesty is only equalled by his knowledge. The examination of the species of the Pteropidce has led me to propose the following distribution of the genera, which may be thus characterized:- I. Teeth 34; true grinders 3/3; hinder small; false grinders 2/3 or 2/2 ; front small, and often deciduous. 1. Cutting-teeth 4/4 ; lower in a regular series. Tail none. Gland of the penis bony. Pteropina. 1. PTEROPUS. Wings from the sides of the hairy back. P. me-dius. |
