Kanije. — Madagascar ; AtVicau coiitiuojit, from Stiiiiaar and 

 Seiiegatnbia in the nort)i, to Xyasaland and Namaqiialand in the 

 sonth ; S. Arabia. 



Halrhs.—On the Middle and r})per Nile, v. Heuglin found 

 "■ Fleropus jjrt?»jan«H" (i.e. Eidolon helvuni) mostly in flocks, 

 frequenting Bornssiis (ethioijicus. the fruits of which, together with 

 those of Ficns and Curdia, seem to be their favourite food ; they 

 sometimes literally eat themselves into the Borassus fruit, a shot 

 bringing the fruit together with the bat to the ground. They fly 

 by night as well as by day, their sight being apparently unimpaired 

 even in the brightest sunshine, though their flight by day is some- 

 what flickering and unsteady ; by night it is owl-like, straight, and 

 they occasionally pursue each other, making rapid turnings with 

 audible flapping of the wings. They are noisy and quarrel- 

 some, alighting with great uproar on their roosting-places. — In 

 Fernando Fo F. Newton found them feeding on the fruits of 

 C'lrrica ixtpaya and Fersira gratlssima. — The British Museum 

 specimens obtained by A. Whyte at Mt. Malosa, Nyasaland, were 

 found suspended fiom the upper branches of tall trees, but " they 

 also frequent caves in the rocks, v\ here they probably breed " ; those 

 collected by E. Seimund in Fernando Po were mostly shot in palm 

 or pLiutain trees ; ripe embryos or new-born young were obtained 

 in Fernando Po by the same collector between the middle of 

 February and the middle of March. 



E. sabceum was seen in considerable numbers near Lahej, Aden, 

 early in March (Col. Yerbnry) and in the middle of August (A. B. 

 Percival) ; they frequent the tops of the tallest trees, where they 

 collect in large bail-like clusters of 10 to 50, but are by no means 

 easy to detect ; " were it not for the characteristic chattering that 

 they keep up incessantly, they would probably be overlooked 

 altogether" (Yerbury). Percival found them very noisy in the 

 roosting-places, "squeaking and swearing, making a great fuss 

 eafly in the morning " ; they were apparently feeding on dates 

 is hich (in August) were just ripe ; when the dates are ripening 

 every bunch is put into a bag made of palm-leaves, for protection 

 against these bats and the crows. 



Affinities. — Eidolon is related, though not very closely, to 

 JloKsetius, with which it was united by Dobson in the genus 

 •' Cynonycteria." It differs from Roiisetlns chiefly in the deve- 

 lopment of a short bony auditory meatus, in the distinctly 

 Repavated premaxillaries, the proportionally longer rostrum, the 

 less reduced size of p', the unusually long m^, the smaller m^, the 

 larger number of posterior palate-ridges, the increased number of 

 fascife in the lateral wing-membrane, the much larger size, and in 

 being restricted to the Malagasy and Ethiopian regions (in- 

 cluding S. Arabia). In the larger size of p' and proportionally 

 longer rostrum, it would seem to be more primitive than Rousettns, 

 but it is on a higher level of development in the peculiar tubular 

 lengthening of Ihe tympanic, the sejjaraliou of the preraaxillaries, 



