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Show 1887.] FROM THE SOLOMON ISLANDS. 323 1854 by Dr. F. M. Ravner, during the voyage of H.M.S. < Herald ;' not obtained by Mr. Woodford. 4. CYNONYCTERIS BRACHYOTIS, Dobs. a, b. Fauro Island, 5/86. Previously known habitat, New-Ireland group ; also recorded from Celebes1. The two specimens obtained by Mr. Woodford are both slightly immature, and both retain their first upper premolars. They agree in every respect with the typical specimens. 5. HARPYIA MAJOR, Dobs. a, b. Alu, Shortland Island, 4/86. (New Georgia, Coll. Brit. Mus.) Hab. E. New Guinea ; New-Ireland group ; Solomon Islands. 6. CEPHALOTES PERONII, Geoffr. a. Alu, Shortland Island, 4/86. (Ugi, Dr. H. B. Guppy, H.M.S. 'Lark'; San Christoval, F. M. Rayner, H.M.S. 'Herald.') Hab. Austro-Malayan subregion, from Celebes to Solomon Islands. NESONYCTERIS2, g. n. Muzzle long, narrow, cylindrical; nostrils projecting considerably ; upper lip with a vertical groove bounded laterally by raised naked edges; posterior palate-ridges divided in the centre ; index finder without a claw, longer than the metacarpal bone of the middle finger ; wing-membranes as in Melonycteris3; tail none. Dentition:-I. \, C.{, Pm. |, M. | x 2 = 32. Shape, size, and position of teeth much as in Melonycteris*, but lower inner incisors entirely obsolete. Skull as in Melonycteris; premaxillse distinctly separated anteriorly0. Lower jaw with a very long gutter-like symphysis, and with a long diastema between the first premolar and that next behind it. This most interesting new genus presents a combination of the characters of several of the hitherto known Macroglossine Bats. Thus, in the clawles3 state of the index finger it resembles Eonyc-teris and Notopteris; by the attachment of its wing-membranes and the form of its palate-ridges, Melonycteris and, fairly closely, Mega-loglossus. And, again, while the number of the incisors is as in Notopteris, the other teeth closely resemble those of Melonycteris, to which, on the whole, it is certainly most nearly allied. 1 Jentink, Notes Leyd. Mus. v. p. 173 (1883). 2 vi)oos, an island, vvtcrepis, a bat. 3 See Dobson, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 119. 4 Figured, id. I. c. figs. 5 and 6. 5 As they are in Melonycteris, although by some accident that genus has been placed under the heading of " premaxillary bones united in front," in the Cat. Chiropt. Brit. Mus. p. 4, nothing being said, on the subject in the description of the genus pp. 97-8. |
