| OCR Text |
Show 1866.] DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE PTEROPINE BATS. 65 6. Cutting-teeth 4/4; lower in a regular series. Head elongated, swollen in front. Glands on shoulder with a tuft of white hairs. Epomophorina. II. EPOMOPS. Face moderate, rounded in front; nose and chin simple, hairy. Skull ovate ; face much shorter than the brain-case ; upper cutting-teeth separate, spaced. E.franqueti. 12. EPOMOPHORUS. Face very long, rounded in front; nose and chin simple, hairy. Skull elongate; face as long as brain-case; upper cutting-teeth close together. E. whitei. 13. HYPSIGNATHUS. Face very long, swollen and truncated in front; nose and chin with a fleshy disk, with raised e dges. H. monstrosus. The Pteropidce are spread over the warmer parts of Africa and Asia, and are found in many of the smaller islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. There is a general similarity in the colouring of the majority of the species ; specimens found in the same locality or island often vary considerably from one another, even when the examination of the skull and teeth show that they are of the same species. On the other hand, specimens from different localities often resemble one another so much in their external colouring that it is difficult to distinguish them in any description that can be made ; but when the skulls and teeth are examined they prove to be very different species. Under these circumstances the locality of the specimens is an important element in determining the species. PTEROPUS WALLACEI, sp. nov. Fur very soft, reddish grey brown ; hair of the back black, of the belly ashy white with reddish tips ; nape and sides of the shoulders grey ; spot on cheek, at angle of mouth, a broad band along the upper lip, a streak upon the centre of the nose (each of them edged with darker brown), the back of the chin, and a lanceolate spot over each eye pure white ; the hair on the dorsal surface of the upper arm greyish white. Ears elongate, bald, with two impressed longitudinal grooves. Hab. Celebes: Macassar (Mr. Wallace, 1857). This beautiful species was brought to England by Mr. Wallace, but appears to have been overlooked ; for Mr. Edward Gerrard, Jun., purchased it at Stevens's sale-room, included in a considerable lot of skins of birds and other animals of little value. The specimen described is very young (the epiphyses of the bones are all separate), and it doubtless grows to a larger size ; but this does not in the least invalidate the distinctness of the species. There are the young of many species of Pteropine Bats in the British Museum, sometimes with their mothers ; but in every case the young is coloured like the parent, only the colours are not so decidedly marked. This would lead one to believe that the adult PROC. ZOOL. Soc -1866, No. V. |
