OCR Text |
Show 756 MR. O. THOMAS ON TWO NEW PTEROPI [Dec. 19, PTEROPUS PHJSOCEPHALUS, sp. n. (Plate LIV.) Face and chin dark blackish brown, crown of bead somewhat lighter ; dorsal side of neck, and back, chestnut-brown, the tips of the hairs nearly white ; shoulders and sides of neck very pale yellowish white, forming well-marked shoulder-patches ; the bases of the hairs brown ; below neck very light brown. Chest with a conspicuous patch of yellowish white on its centre; rest of underside and fur on the interfemoral membrane and wings dark rufous-brown. Tips of the hairs throughout, and especially on the head and neck, with a very noticeable silvery lustre. Above, the fur is nearly two inches in breadtb across the back, and extends thinly half along tbe humerus, while the forearm is quite naked. Below, it grows on the wing-membrane as far as a line drawn from the elbow to the knee, and there is a distinct patch of longish hairs behind the proximal third of the forearm. Interfemoral thickly covered above for half its breadth, nearly naked below. Ears narrow, slightly longer than the muzzle, inner margin evenly convex, tip narrowly rounded off, outer margin straight in its upper, convex in its middle, and straigbt in its lower third. "Wings arising from within half an inch of each other on the back. Interfemoral very narrow, almost obsolete in the centre. Teeth (Plate LIV.) on the whole very small and weak. Canines, both above and below, with unusually broad postero-internal basal ledges. First upper premolar minute or deciduous, when present standing in the tooth-row; second premolar and first molar scarcely longer than broad, second molar regularly oval; last molar subtriangular, rather smaller than the first lower premolar, and larger than the last lower molar, which is about equal to one of the outer upper incisors. Below, tbe inner incisors are about half the size of the outer ; first premolar large, filling up the space between the canine and second premolar; second and third premolars and first molar with small postero-external basal cusps. Dimensions of the type, a gravid female in alcohol, from Mortlock Island:- Head and body 6 inches ; head 1*95 ; nose to eye 0*7 ; nose to ear 1*55; ear-conch, length '86, breadth *43; forearm 4*0; thumb 1*6 ; 2nd finger 2*75 ; 3rd finger-metacarpal 2*65, 1st phalanx 1*85, 2nd phalanx 2*75 ; 5th finger-metacarpal 2*75, 1st phalanx 1*2, 2nd phalanx 1*25 ; tibia 1*9 ; calcaneum 0*4; foot 1*25. This brightly marked species seems to be most nearly allied to Pt. temmincki, Peters, from Amboina and Ceram ; from which, however, it differs in its brown instead of yellow head, in its shorter muzzle, rounder molars, much larger first lower premolars, and in the broader postero-internal ledges to the canines. PTEROPUS BREVICEPS, sp. n. (Plate LV.) Colour throughout uniform dark rufous-brown, the short hairs on the muzzle and between the eyes silvery yellow. Fur soft and |