1899] MATSCHIE' S CATALOGUE OF FRUIT-BATS 451 



order de novo, while the publisher undertook to supply such additional plates 

 as were required to bring the work thoroughly up to date. At least 15 of 

 such new plates are announced for issue, 11 of which have been drawn and 

 lithographed by the late Mrs. Matschie. With such a wealth of illustration, 

 the work starts with a strong promise of success. It is announced to be com- 

 pleted in four parts. 



The present fasciculus deals with the important and interesting group of 

 Megachiroptera or Fruit-Bats, all the members of which Dr. Matschie follows 

 his predecessors in placing in the single family Pteropodidae. In this family 

 the author recognises 20 genera and 122 species, together with numerous sub- 

 genera and sub-species. And here it may be remembered that, although the 

 distinction is clear enough in the systematic index, it would have been better if 

 the number of sub-species had been more markedly distinguished in the text 

 from those of species. Moreover, to our thinking, a few more plates of the 

 animals themselves, in addition to the numerous figures of skulls, would have 

 added decidedly to the general interest of the fasciculus, and have made it more 

 attractive at least to the amateur naturalist. 



In regard to the limits of genera the author differs considerably from some 

 English naturalists. He regards, for instance, the curious Pteralopex atrata, of 

 the Solomon Islands, as representing merely a sub-genus of Pteropus, instead 

 of a genus by itself ; while, on the other hand, Cynojrterus marginatus from 

 Sarawak, described by Mr. O. Thomas in 1893, is considered worthy of separa- 

 tion as a distinct genus {Dalionycteris). Moreover, there are several important 

 emendations on the Dobsonian nomenclature, Eousettus, Gray, replacing 

 Xantharpyia, Gray, while Gelasinns, Temminck, stands for the preoccupied 

 Ifarpyia, Illiger. If this latter change can be substantiated it will save the 

 transference of the name Cephalotes from the genus it usually stands for to the 

 above-named group {Harpyia), as has been proposed by Mr. T. S. Palmer ; but 

 it is very doubtful whether experts will admit the innovation. Although 

 changing preoccupied names when they are literally identical with their 

 precursors, Dr. Matschie refuses to admit that a name like Macroglossa 

 necessitates the abolition of Macroglossus ; but here, again, we are on danger- 

 ously debatable ground. 



So far as we have tested them, the generic and systematic definitions seem 

 clearly and accurately drawn up ; but how these work in actual practice can 

 only be demonstrated when new genera or species have to be described. Special 

 value attaches to the author's notes on the distribution of the species of 

 Epauletted Bats {Ep>omophoru&) in Africa, and the zoo-geographical sub-regions 

 of that continent, but there seems too much tendency to make the species fit in 

 with the regions. 



-'o 1 



MULTIPLICATION OF MOSSES. 



Untersuchungen uber die Verinehrung der Laubmoose durch Brutorgane 

 und Stecklinge. Von Dr. Carl Correns. 8vo. Pp. xxiv. + 472, 

 with 187 figures. Jena: G. Fischer, 1899. Price 15 marks. 



By no means the least exciting group of plants are the Mosses. How 

 interesting their position in the scale of plant-life, so far removed, excepting 

 only their close allies the Liverworts, from everything else, and separated by as 

 great a gulf from the less highly organised Algae as from the more highly 

 organised Ferns ! How remarkable their life-history, with its clearly marked 

 division into two phases, distinct but never separated ! How puzzling the 

 comparison of organs and members with those of the higher plants ! On the 

 one hand the leaf that is not a leaf, on the other hand the unmistakable leaf- 

 like character in structure and function of the base of the highly-organised 

 spore-capsule. But perhaps the most striking feature of the group is their 



