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Show 246 MR. G. E. DOBSON ON SECONDARY SEXUAL [Mar. 4, Iii his " Critical Analysis of the order Chiroptera " * Dr. Fitzinger has redescribed three species, as Saccolaimus brevicaudatus, S. ful-vidus, and S. cantori, Blyth, which had many years previously been recognized by their original describer (Mr. Blyth) as males of T. longimanus, Hardw., differing from one another in the colour of the fur, length of tail, and in some other points of no specific importance, dependent on season, age, and locality. These imaginary species have been relegated by Dr. Fitzinger to the genus Saccolaimus, distinguished by tbe possession of a gular pouch ; while the females, being without a gular pouch, appear in a separate genus under the names of T. longimanus, Hardw., and T. bicolor, Temm. The males of T. melanopogon, Temm., possess a peculiar beard of long black hairs, extending from the angles of the mandible backwards to the sternum. This beard contrasts remarkably with the rest of the fur, both in the length of the hairs composing it and in their colour. The usual colour of the fur of the animals of this species is white at the base, with black extremities. The hairs of the beard, however, are black throughout, thicker and longer than the hairs occupying the rest of the body. In the females the portion of the body occupied by the beard in the males is thinly clothed with fur not differing from that covering other parts. Taphozous melanopogon, The position of the beard, and comparative length of the hairs composing it, are shown in the above woodcut (fig. 6). Among the Molossi the males of some species are provided with thoracic or gular glandular pouches, which are either wanting or less developed in the females. The thoracic pouch of Dysopes alecto, an American species, is described by Temminck as follows :- " Plusieurs individus conserves a l'esprit de vin ont servi a nous faire de'couvrir que l'espece est munie au thorax d'une poche ou siphon assez large, couvert par un repli de la peau et conduisant a une cavite pourvue de muscles propres, qui servent ala se'cre'tion d'un fluide onctueux ; le bord inferieur de ce siphon est pourvu d'un bourrelet, et la cavite se trouve en grande partie cachee par quelques poils assez longs du devant du cou. Les males ont cette ouverture, * " Kritische Durchsicht der Ordnung der Flatterthiere," Sitzungsber. Wien. Akad. Ixi. Abth. i. p. 447 (1870). |