Liberia 



<«- 



males) have glands at the junction of the neck and shoulder 

 from the tnouths ot which project long, coarse yellow hairs, 

 which grow down so as to form tutts or epaulets on the bat's 

 shoulders. 



Two or three species of the genus Roussetlus {^Xantharpyia) 

 are recorded from Liberia — R. collaris^ R. stramineus^ and perhaps 

 R. buettikoferi} 



The bats of this genus, as already stated, have a short tail 

 like some of the Epomophores, the tip of which is free from 

 the wing membrane. The muzzle is rather long and slender. 

 The males have a gland on each shoulder like that of the 

 Epomophores, and trom the aperture ot this gland radiate long 

 hairs, which in R. stramineus form almost a half-collar round 

 the neck. The colour ot R. stramineus is pale brown, becoming 

 yellowish on the loins, while the head is dark umber. The 

 half-collar ot coarse hairs round the throat of the male is a 

 reddish yellow. 



There is a specialised sub-tamily of trugivorous bats — the 

 C(irponycterii)ice, which among other features is characterised 

 by a very long tongue, armed at the lower end with recurved 

 papilla; like those on the tongue of a lion. These " brush- 

 tongued bats," as they are sometimes called, also have very narrow 

 molar teeth, scarcely rising above the level of the gums. The 

 number of the teeth in their West African representatives (at 

 least in JVLegaloglossus) is thirty-tour — an unusually large number 

 for a fruit-eating bat (only equalled in Pteropns") ; but the teeth 

 are small and tending towards disappearance owing to the 

 increasing use of the tongue, which nourishes the bat by rasping 

 the thin skin of certain fruits anci coating itself thickly with 



' Roussetlus collatis is the Cynonyctcris torquata of Biittikofer ; the third species 

 — Roussetlus buttikoferi —x's, the very doubtful Leiponyx buettikofcri oi jenixnk. 



■ ^ Ptcfopus likewise has thirty-four teeth. As a rule tlie teeth in the 

 Megachiroptc7-a are reduced to twenty-eight or thirty. 



690 



