PTEROPUS SUBNIGliR. 169 



Spectrum rubidum, Daudiii ; 1802. — Name proposed by Daudin 

 (in his revised edition of Lacepede's Tabl. Meth., published in the 

 IJidot Biitfou) for Biiffon"s llougette ; type locality therefore 

 Keunion. 



Pteropus ruber, ¥..Oeo&voj ; 1803. — Geoffroy's brief description 

 of Ft. ruber leaves no room for doubt as to the identification. The 

 references given by GeofTroy are Pi. fuscus Brisson (i. e. Pt. fuscus, 

 auriculis brevibus acutiusculis, coUo superiore rubro), the Roussette 

 of Daubenton, and the Bougette of Buffon, all of which (or at all 

 events the first and third of which) are Ft. subniger. The single 

 specimen oi Ft. ruber catalogued by Geoffroy (his no. 91) was stated 

 to have been " envoyc do Madagascar par le citoyen Mace." This 

 error as to the locality was repeated, in 1825, by Temminck (who 

 is known to have possessed a copy of the rare " Cat. Mamm. Mus. 

 Nation. d'Hist. Nat.,"' which was never offered for sale but 

 I)rivately distributed to a good number of zoologists in France 

 and abroad ; Temminck's copy is still in the Leyden Museum); all 

 later writers' records of the species from Madagascar rest solely on 

 this mistake. — The Paris Museum does not now possess any specimen 

 Avliich can be identified with the type of Pt. ruber. 



Fteropus fuscus, Desmarcst ; 1803. — Type locality, Reunion. 

 Only references given by Desmarest : Bufibn's llougette and 

 Brisson's Fteropus fuscus, Roussette a cou rouge, both of which are 

 Ft. subnujer. The name ^^ fuscus'" was evidently bori-owed from 

 Brisson's diagnosis of Fteropus collo rubro (" Pt. fuscus, auriculis 

 brevibus " &c.). — Desmarest's Ft. fuscus should not be confused 

 with Pt. fuscus, E. Geoff., 1803, which is Ft. nigcr. 



Pt. rubricollis, E. Geoffroy ; 1810. — Type locality, Reunion. 

 Based on one specimen, in the Paris Museum, formerly in the 

 Cabinet Reaumur, sent by de ]a Nux. This specimen was no doubt 

 the verj' typo of Brisson's Fteropus collo rubro (see above), probably 

 also the example described and figured by Bufibn as the " Rougette." 

 It is no longer in existence. 



Pt. torqvatus, G. Fischer; 1814. — A renaming and redescription 

 of Brisson's Ft. collo rubro. Type locality therefore Reunion. 



Fteropus collaris, IWigcr ; 1815. — Based, without description, on 

 Buffon's Rougette. Typo locality therefore Reunion. — In 1828 

 (Verz. Doubl. Mus. Berlin, p. 3, no. 47), Lichtcnstein wrongly 

 identified llliger's Pt. collaris with the S. African Fruit -bat 

 later on (1829) described by A. Smith as Fteropus leachi (i. e. 

 liousettus leachi of this Catalogue), giving as habitat of Pt. collaris 

 " Terra CafTrorum." Some statements in literature of the occur- 

 rence of Ft. rubricollis in S. Africa (Lesson, 1842 ; Schinz, 1844 ; 

 Gray, 1870; 1. s. c.) are undoubtedly based on this error of 

 Lichtcnstein. 



Femarks. — Tlie following three characters taken together aro 

 sufficient to distinguish Pt. subniger from any other species of the 

 genus : Cheek-teeth much reduced in size ; tibia densely haired 

 above ; fur dark brownish above and beneath, with orange ochraceous 



