PLASTIC CHARACTEP.S. xliii 



poculiurly colouied mantle maybe conibiiied witli any of the coluur 

 changes indicated under (1), (2), and (4): 



(4) The head may be marked with sharply defined stripes or 

 patches (Ftcrojjus caimtraiiis and personahis, )Stylocteninm, Scoio- 

 nycteris, Casinycleris) : 



(5) A small tuft of hair at the anterior and posterior bases of 

 the ear-conch may become pale-coloured, whitish or bufty (eeere- 

 ingly a trivial modification, but in fact eminently characteristic of 

 all genera of the K2}onwp]iorus section, except one) : 



(G) A dark spinal stripe may develop (only in Nyctimene, and 

 not equally distinct in all species) : 



(7) Peculiar light or bright-coloured neck-tufts may develop, 

 the brightening of the colour sometimes spreading across the fore- 

 neck and chest and backwaid along the fianks (in males of many 

 species, rarely in females; see the- paragraph "Secondary sexual 

 characters," below). 



In each of the natural sections of Megachiroptera the more 

 noteworthy modifications of the colour of the fur are, briefiy 

 summarized, these: — 



liousettus section. — Junistftus, Bnnna. and liarjiyionycteris are 

 essentially '-typical'' in colour. In Eidolon {helvum and sabmim) 

 the colours are more or less conspicuously tinged with yellowish 

 (and "more so in females than in males). In Dohsonia the dark 

 brown (Kousettine) general colour is often more or less brightened 

 by admixture of olive, raw-umber, or tawny-olive, these tinges 

 often with an indefinable greenish hue. P^eVojJMS (together with 

 the closely related Acerodon) shows greater colour variations than 

 any other genus of Fruit-bats ; any of the modifications mentioned 

 above under (1) to (4) occur, single or combined; a summary has 

 been given in the systematic part of this Catalogue (pp. 74-75). 

 The t\yo known species of Pteralopex are nearly {aneeps) or quite 

 melanistic (airafa). The single si>ccies o{ Styloc'tniimn is unusually 

 light-coloured (silvery greyish or silvery biiflfy, with sharjjly con- 

 trasting dark brown bases to the liairs), and with peculiar head 

 markings, closely similar to those of Fteropus personatus, to which 

 the genus is undoubtedly related. 



Epomophorus section.— Small whitish hair-lufts at the base of 

 the ears anteriorly and posteriorly are present in all genera of this 

 section, except iScotonyctcrin, but in no other Fruit-bats. The 

 general colour of the fur is in Hypsir/nathus dull, dark ])lumbeous 

 or slate, in all other genera as a rule more or less tending toward 

 tho paler tinges of brown, fawn-brown, cafc-au-lait, brownish 

 russet, brownish Isabella, or allied tinges. "White markings on the 

 head, curiously analogous to those of Pteropus personatus and 

 t'Stylocienium, are present in Scotonycteris and Casinycterix (the 

 appearance of essentially analogous head markings in so widely 

 separated forms as Pteropus personatus and Styhctenium on the one 

 hand, Scofoiiyctei-is and Casinycteria on the other is difficult indeed 

 to account for, except on the supposition that these arc cases of 



