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Show 1905.] OF THE GENUS RHINOLOPHUS. 135 Colour. S ad. and $ ad., in alcohol, unfaded; teeth unworn. As Rh. refulgens. Skull. As in Rh. sumatranus, but maxillar width, across the antero-external corners of m3, narrower (8-l mm., as against 8-6 in Rh. sumatranus). Dentition. Essentially as in Rh. sumatranus, but the interspace between the upper canine and p4 broader ; p„ and p4 not quite in contact. Type. 3 ad. (in alcohol). Kifa Juc, Engano. Collected by Dr. E. Modigliani. Presented by Marquis G. Doria. Brit. Mus. no. 94.1.7.3. General Remarks on the Rhinolophus lepidus Group. The ancestral species.-The ancestors of the simplex and lepidus groups were very closely related. The latter had a projecting connecting process: a slightly smaller skull and teeth. But the general shape of the skull, the dentition, the nose-leaves, apart from the process and a very slight difference in the shape of the sella, the ears, the wing-strncture, the length of the tail, and, we might even say, probably the size, were either identical or extremely similar in both of these extinct Bats. The place of origin.-There can scarcely be any doubt that the lepidus group originated much farther westwards than the simplex group. If we regard Japan as a continental group of islands, and put aside Java, on account of its peculiar geological history, we still find, not only the most primitive, but in fact all the species of the lepidus section on the Continent. It is only the acuminatus section which has spread over the adjacent larger islands, one of which (Sumatra) has comparatively recently been continental, while another (Java), probably in a more remote period, seems to have been connected with some part or other of Indo- China; and only one form, still so closely related to the Java species as hardly to be specifically different, has found its way so far eastwards as Lombok. The hypothesis, therefore, cannot be called unfounded, that of the two ancestral species, the ancient " simplex" and the ancient " lepidus," the former was Eastern in range (Austro-Indo-Malayan), the latter Western (Oriental). Differentiation*.-From a systematic point of view I found it convenient to divide the lepidus section into three " types " ; I think that, phylogenetically speaking, there are two only : the lepidus and the minor type. The former, as coming nearest to simplex in the proportionate size of the skull and teeth, is, probably, the more primitive ; it is now distributed over the Indian Peninsula (lepidus), the Himalayas (■monticola), and Malacca (refulgens). The latter, the minor-type, has spread from the Himalayas [minor) eastwards through S. China to Japan (cornutus); it is represented on the now quite isolated Anambas Islands (" minutus") ; its occurrence in Java is not surprising, considering * Compare the diagram on p. 138. |
