166 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 



forms of the genus, including the type and only known specimen 

 of E. santa-cristobalensis, kindly loaned by the Field Museum of 

 Natural History. 



Gundlach, in 1861, was the first to describe a bat of this 

 genus, which he discovered in Cuba, and named Phyllonycteris 

 sezekorni. This has proved to be a rather rare or local species 

 of which few specimens have been available for study. It is 

 small wonder therefore that some confusion has existed as to its 

 characters. Two additional species were described in 1899, by 

 Miller : planifrons from New Providence, Bahamas, and bombi- 

 frons from Bayamon, Porto Rico. In 1905, a single specimen 

 from Santo Domingo, previously recorded by Elliot as Phyllo- 

 nycteris poeyi was named by him P. santa-cristobalensis (later, 

 1907, p. 534, emended to sancta-cristobalensis) . Miller, in 1906, 

 erected the genus Erophyllato include these four forms, leaving 

 Phyllonycteris with the single species poeyi, of Cuba. 



In external characters, apart from color, all the described 

 species of Erophylla are remarkably alike. They show slight 

 individual variation in the length of tail, form of nose pad and 

 tragus, but nothing that may be used to distinguish geographi- 

 cal races with certainty. Unfortunately a sufficient series of 

 skins is not available to determine what color characters are 

 present, though it seems probable that there are marked color 

 differences separating some of the forms. 



An examination of the skulls, however, shows that they fall 

 into two readily distinguishable groups: the one has a high 

 rounded brain case with a relatively short tapering rostrum; 

 the other has a low profile with longer and less narrowed ros- 

 trum. To the former belong bombifrons and santa-cristobalensis ; 

 to the latter sezekorni, planifrons, and the Jamaican representa- 

 tive described below. Although all four described forms have 

 been accredited with specific rank, this hardly represents their 

 true status. Each of the two groups just defined has perhaps 

 nearly the value of a species, but the differences separating the 

 island forms within each group are hardly sufficient to accord 

 them more than subspecific rank. The distribution of the two 

 groups is of probable significance; the sezekorni forms at the 

 western end of the Antillean chain, the bombifrons group farther 

 to the eastward in Santo Domingo and Porto Rico. 



The Jamaican race may be known as 



