350 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



giving a frosted appearance. This specimen has a small white spot 

 in the middle of the lower back. The fur of the lower surface is dull 

 white to the roots of the hairs. The forearm measurement is 51-52 

 mm. The extreme length of the skull (occiput to incisors) is 20.5 mm, 



SCOTOPHILUS ALTILIS, sp. nOV. 



Lesser Brown Bat. 



Ty2)e.— Adult male, skin and skull, 14,463 M. C. Z., from Ara- 

 deiba, above Roseires, Blue Nile, Sudan. 22 January, 1913. 



General Characters. — A small species, forearm 46 mm., grayish . 

 brown above; chin and throat white, chest and belly pale drab. 



Description. — In contrast to the previous species, this is a grayish 

 or yellowish brown above; crown only slightly darker, marked in the 

 type by two fine streaks of white due to the confluence of the fine white 

 tips which many of the hairs of the nape and crown show, and which 

 give a slightly frosted appearance to this region. Chin practically 

 naked, its skin dark-pigmented. Hair of the throat and groin silky . 

 white to the base; chest and abdomen pale drab to the roots of the 

 hairs. Membranes naked above, but below a sparse covering of white 

 hairs extends out as far on the wings as a line joining the elbow and 

 the middle of the femur. A line of fine whitish hairs extends along the 

 outer side of the forearm to the carpus. Postcalcaneal lobe well 

 developed. 



Shill. — The skull resembles in general that of S. n. leucogaster 

 but is much smaller, with a less prominent occipital crest, the upper 

 incisors are slightly more inturned, and the median spine at the pos- 

 terior margin of the palate is relatively more developed. 



Measurements. — The type measured: — total length 116 mm., tail 

 50, hind foot 8, ear from meatus 16, tibia 20.5, forearm 46. The 

 skull: — greatest length (occiput to tip of incisor) 18.2, basal length 

 (basion to tip of incisor) 15, median palatal length 6, zygomatic width 

 12.8, lacrymal width 7.5, mastoid width 11, upper tooth row (exclusive 

 of incisor) 6.1, lower tooth row (exclusive of incisors) 7. 



Remarks. — Throughout Africa, south of the Sahara two species 

 of Scotophilus, a larger and a smaller, seem to occur together. The 

 larger is S. nigriia represented by the follo^\^ng races: — S. n. nigrita 

 (Schreber) from Senegal; S. n. nux Thomas from the Cameroons; 

 S. n. herero Thomas from northern Damaraland; S. n. dingani 

 (Smith) from South Africa; S. n. planirostris (Peters) from Mozam- 



