iiK-luding twenty tlve species. It is a purely aititicial constellation 

 of species, indefinable as a genus or subgenus. 



Fselaphon, Gray; 1870. — llests solely on the combination 

 " P.-itlaphon ur&hnis" occurring in Gray's Catalogue [l. s. c). Eut 

 that this is a slip I'or Fteropus ursinus is beyond all doubt : 

 Fsekijihon ursimiit is no. 23 of the genus Pteroptis, preceded 

 and followed by many other species all of which are styled 

 " Pieropus " ; a genus Psdaphon does not occur in Gray's synopsis 

 of genera of the family Pteropodid.e in the same book (p. 99); and 

 in the systematic index to the book (p. viii) the species is registered 

 as Pteropus ursinus. 



Sericoni/cteris, Matschie ; 1899. — Subgenus of Pteropvs ; type by 

 • ■riginal designation, Pt. ruhricoUis [Pt. subnif/er], Si)eeies sis : 

 J't. nibricollis, teniminc/ii, personatus, capistratus, molossinns, tcood- 

 fordi. It is difficult to understand whj' these species were placed 

 together in a distinct subgenus ; the brief diagnosis given by the 

 author does not touch any character of importance and does not 

 hold good on any point ; the six species, representing, as the}' do, 

 four different groups of the genus, have in fact little more in 

 common than their unusually small size. 



iJesmalope.r, Miller ; 1907. — The type and only species, Pt. leuco- 

 pt/THs, differs in no character of generic importance from Pt.p>seliiplion 

 (see Ann. & Mag. X. H. (8) Vi\. pp. 1^13-218, 1 Feb. 1909). 



Geor/ntphical Distrilmtion of the S^iecies and Subispecies 

 of Pteropus. 



I. Midaijamj Reyiou. — 8 species (9 foims), re{)rescnting four 

 different groups of the genus, \iz.: — (1) Pt. nifus, comorengis, 

 scycliellensis, nldabroisis, niijer (all of the Pt. rufus group) ; (2) 

 J't. Jivingslonri (Pt. itiehinopO(/on group) : (3) Pt. s^ibnigcr {Pi. 

 Iiypomehtiius group); (4) Pt. rndncensis (I't. loinbocensis group). 



All the species arc allied to Indo-Malayan or Austro-Malayan 

 forms, none to species inhabiting India. The absolutely pre- 

 dominant type of Pteropus in the ifalagasy region is the Pt. nifus 

 group : it is the only group peculiar to the region, and the only 

 one distributed over i)ractically all its islands. It falls, however, 

 into two sharply separated sections, a Malagasy type, represented 

 by four closely related species, Pt. rufus (Madagascar"), Pt. como- 

 reusis ((.onioros), I't. sei/chelleitsis (Seychelles), and Pt. aJdabrensIs 

 (.ildabra), and a ])eculiarly modified ifascarcne type, represented 

 by a single species, Pt. x/r/f/- (ifauritiiis, lieunion). The Pt. rujns 

 group has no do.-cr living relatives than the si>ecies of the Pt. 

 uichinotus group, all of which are eonhned to t]u'. Andauian-lS'icobar 

 chain and its south-eastern contiiniation (Nias, Engano, t'hristinas 

 island). — J't. Iivhu/st07in (apparently restricted to Johanna Island, 

 (Comoros) is the only Malagasy species of a group represented 

 cLsewhere only in the Moluccas, Key, and Aru Islands. Likewise, /'/. 

 s«///i(V/f/- ( Mauritius, Reunion) is the only Malagasy representative 

 of till' chiefly Austro- and 1 iido-Malayan I't. ItitjionK'hiiimi group. 



