Colour. — The most churucteri.slic ieuf.ure is [he clcvelcjuueiil, in 

 a majorit}- of species, of a brilliimtly coloured mantle (nape of neck), 

 contrasting with the colour of the back *. liut the character is far 

 from being constant ; the mantle shows any colour tinge, from light 

 yellowish buff or even cream-butf ur whitish, through any shade of 

 buff, tawny, russet, or chestnut, to dark brown, seul-brown, or 

 blackish. liy darkening of the normal biiglit colour the mantle 

 may become similar to the back ; if at the same time the colour of 

 the back is lightened, the mantle may even become much darker 

 than the back {Pt. aruensi:;, some races uf Fl. Jii/pomehinus, and 

 others). — The numerous variations in the total aspect of the colour 

 of the pelage may be roughly classed as follows: — (1) PeLige 

 approximately dark brownish above and beneath (often sjirinkled 



occuiring in the Liu-kiii Islands, viz. Pf. dasymalltui. has long and spreading 

 fur extending upon the upperside of the tibiie, and that the lliree Masciirene 

 species are all hairy-legged (one of them, Pt. suhuiyer, a s)>ccies hiding 

 in caies, also long-furred), and it is probably on these facts that Dobsou 

 based his statement. But tlie second species inhabiting the Liu-kiu Islands. 

 Pt. loochoensis, has tiie fur rather short and the tibi.T naked above; one of 

 the two species known from Aneiteum (New Hebrides) is long-furred and 

 )iah"y-legged (7Y. anetianii>i), the other very short-furred and naked-legijed 

 {Pt. gcddici); of the five Australia.n species, one is long-furred with the tibia; 

 luiusually thickly clothed {Pt. iio'iocephalu)^), in a second the fin* of the body is 

 moderate in length and tl)e tibi;e clotlied above {Pf. /iriiimei/.s). while the three 

 otiiers are short-furred and naked-legged. If all the hairv-legged species are 

 taken together, they cover the Philippines. Celebes, Moluc(';is, Lesser Sunda 

 Islands. Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands, Australia, Polynesia, Micro- 

 nesia, Formosa, Liu-kiu Islands, and Masearenes. All the naked-legged and 

 short-furred species taken together cover jtraotically the whole area inhabited 

 by tlie genus, including nearly all the small wind-swept oceanic islands, with 

 the onlj' noteworthy exception of tlie Mascarenes. 



* The dilfiirence in colour between mantle and back, so conspicuous iu many 

 species of P/croputi, lias been interpreted as an instance of " jjrotecti ve mimicry " 

 (in the sleeping attitude of these bats "the brightly-coloured neck and head are 

 presented to the view and resemble the extremity of a ripe cocoanut, with 

 which the larger species closely correspond iu size," Dobsou, Cat. Chir. B. M. 

 p. 17). This explanation, though perfectly natural, perhaps almost inevitable, 

 in the golden age of the theories of " natural selection," " protective mimicry," 

 &c., would scarcely meet with universal acceptance now. It would seem th.at, in 

 this case, no other theory is i-equired than the very simple one : similar causes, 

 similar effects. The real fruits and the pseudo-fruits (Pteropi) hang side 

 by side, from the same branches, in precisely similar positions, in jjreciselj' 

 similar surroundings, subject lo precisely the same ellects of light and shade, 

 and so it has been for countless generations of both ; no wonder, therefore, if 

 they become similar in colnur. It has been stated (/. .?. c), obviously to support 

 the protective-mimicry-theory, that the contrast in colour between mantle and 

 back is " much less developed in the smaller species of the genus" (which, "by 

 their small size, are less easily seen "); but the statement is entirely wrong ; a 

 strikingly bright-coloured mantle or a mantle practically similar in colour to 

 the back are characters equally common in species of all sizes, from the very 

 smallest, through the medium-sized, to the very largest. Also it would seem 

 that, if Nature had given these bats a protective colour, then she would, so 

 to say, have given with one hand and taken back the benelit of her gift with 

 the other; the colour of some species may render them not too easily detect- 

 able for the untrained eye, but at the same time all species have so strong an 

 odour that any of their enemies, be he man or animal, easily detects ihem with 

 closed eyes ... , „ ,, „,,,» .„■..,... .-• ■ ,1., ,.^. .^, .-.n, ,„,,. 



