38 M. C. COOKE ON THE HAIK8 OF INDIAN BATS. 



for natural history. He brought over with him au immense load 

 of mammalia, hirds, &c. I having told him that the hairs of 

 various animals were interesting objects for the microscope, he said, 

 * I'll send you over a lot of them.' Accordingly he sent me a 

 pinch from a considerable number, on examining which I found 

 some good things, and some of not much microscopical value ; but 

 on coming to the hair of the Indian bat I was literally astounded 

 and exclaimed that I had never seen any hair equal to that. But 

 to describe the bat itself, which I have had in my hand ; it was not 

 larger than the common English bat, but was remarkable for the 

 length of its tail, which was, I should think, full three inches long, 

 and was known in India as the long tailed bat. I sent a specimen 

 to Mr. Powell (long before his union with Mr. Lealand), and he 

 said he had never seen anything like it before." 



It is scarcely necessary to remind you of the structure of or- 

 dinary hair, of which human hair may be taken as an example. It 

 consists usually of a medulla or central pith, surrounded by a cortex 

 and enclosed in an epidermis, the outer cuticle of which consists of 

 irregular transparent plates or scales. These parts will be found 

 to present themselves in the hair of bats, subject to modifications, 

 more particularly in the form and arrangement of the cuticular 

 plates or scales. Although I shall follow a zoological order in the 

 enumeration of the hairs which I have examined, I shall regard 

 them as constituting six groups, more or less allied by structure as 

 well as zoological affinities. 



In the large frugivorous bats of the Malayan Islands and Con- 

 tinental India, the simplest form of hair prevails. There are four 

 species of Pteropus known in these localities, of which I have only 

 examined two. One of these is the Kalong of Java, found also in 

 Tenasserim, and known as Pteropus edulis, and the other is the 

 Wawul of the Malays (Pteropus Edwardsii), which is found in 

 India generally. The species of which I have not seen the hairs, 

 are Pteropus Leschenaultii, of Southern India, and Pteropus 

 melanotus of the Nicobar Islands. This genus extends also to 

 Australia. 



The dimensions of these bats are given by Dr. Horsfield as bav- 

 in f an expanse of five feet, and the length of body at a foot ; 

 whilst Colonel Sykes declares that these dimensions are too small, 

 and that he has seen them fourteen and a half inches long in the 

 body. 



