72 
Mammals of Eastern Asia 
(the area across the shoulders) ; the mantle is usually yellowish 
or tawny, the rest of the body dark gray-brown or black. These 
are large Bats, some of them very large. The wing-spread may 
reach nearly 5 feet; the length of the forearm of such a large 
species may be almost 9 inches. Some of the small ones, on the 
contrary, have forearms less 
than 4 inches in length and 
wing-spans of only about 2 
feet. There is a well-devel- 
oped, if blunt, claw on the 
index finger of the wing. The 
tail is absent. 
The species of Pteropus 
lead a communal existence, 
spending the day hanging up- 
side down from the upper 
branches of some great tree 
in the forest or near a river 
bank, and at dusk winging 
their way, in groups num- 
bering scores, in search of 
the ripening fruit or the 
flowers upon which they 
feed. In the Orient and Aus- 
tralia they may do consid- 
erable damage to cultivated 
fruit. The flesh of Pteropus is relished by many natives, at least 
in New Guinea. 
Pteropus is a tropical genus found also in Madagascar, cer- 
tain islands in the Indian Ocean, tropical Asia, the Indo-Aus- 
tralian Archipelago, New Guinea, and eastern Australia, and 
outwards among the islands of the Pacific Ocean as far as Fiji 
and Samoa. It is not found in Africa or China, nor has it 
reached the Hawaiian group in the Pacific. Relatively few 
Fig. 9. Flying Fox, 
Pteropus. 
