PTERorus R0Frs RVFrs. 207 



considered " repauduc dans toute Flnde, a Ceylon et a Madagascar," 

 and deliberately cliani;-ed the type locality of Ft. I'luiiops from 

 " Madagascar "' into " Macassar," erroneously believing the former 

 word to be a slip of the pen for the latter. It is of some importance 

 to bear this confusion of names and species in remembrance, 

 because Temminck's view as to the specific identity of Pt. edwardsi 

 and the ratlier similarly coloured Pt. meditts was accepted by a 

 long series of later writers (see synonymy of Pt. (jiganteiis), so that, 

 when no locality is given ( e. g. in anatomical papers), it is often 

 difficult or impossible to see if the name " Pt. edwardsi " refers to 

 the Malagasy {Pt. nifus) or the Indian species {Pt. giganteus). 



Pteropus madagascarlensis, Oken • 1816. — Type locality, Mada- 

 gascar. A renaming of E, Geoflfroy's Pt. edicardsi. Eefercnces : 

 Pt. edwardsi and Vespertilio vampyms. Description an almost 

 verbal German translation of Geoffrey's description (size, colour) of 

 Pt. edwardsi. 



Pteropus pliaiops, Temm. ; 1825. — Temminck's Pt. phaiops, 

 1825, is E. Geoffroy's Pt. rufus; Temminck's Pt. jjJiaiojjs, 1837, is 

 a mixture of Pt. rufus and Pt. melanopogon. The explanation of 

 the mistake is this : In 1825 Temminck described two specimens 

 of a Pteropus from Madagascar as Pt. phaiops: both of these 

 specimens are still in the collection of the Leyden Museum ( S ad., 

 $ ad., mounted; Jentink, Cat. Syst. p. 146, sub Pt. edwardsi, 

 specimens c, d; skull of c in situ, skull of d separate: Cat. Ost. 

 p. 259, c) ; they are in every respect indistinguishable from 

 British Museum specimens of Pt. rufus rufus ; but when later on 

 receiving six s])eciraens of a Pteropus from Amboina, obtained by 

 Mliller and Macklot, Temminck believed in these to recognize his 

 Pt.pJutiops, and considering that the same species could hardly be 

 common to Madagascar and Amboina, he now (Mon. Mamm. ii. 

 p. 66, 18.37) regarded "Madagascar" as an " erreur ou faute 

 d'impression " for " Macassar " (Celebes). The truth is that the 

 cotypes of Pt. pJiniops were correctly ticketed Madagascar, while 

 Miiller and ilacklot's Amboina specimens were the very different 

 Pt. melanopogon; that Temminck failed to distinguish the latter 

 from the former is easily explained by the fact that Pt. meJano- 

 pogon in the colour of the fur bears no small resemblance to 

 Pt. rufus. — All later records iu literature of Pt. phaiops, rcsj). 

 phcfops, from ^lacassar or Celebes in general (see references above) 

 are based solely on Temminck's deliberate changing of the true 

 type locality of Pt. pJiaiopis, viz. Madagascar, into Macassar. 



a. A. 2 ad. sks. ; Jfadagasfar. Purcli.ised (Blyth, 76.1.31.28,29. 



skulls. Greene & Jourtlain I. 



f. (Jad. al. N. M:iclag:iscar. Rev. R. Baion [C. & 91.11.20.1. 



P.]. 

 (/. Ad. skeleton. N.Madagascar. A. Crossley [C.]. 70.5..5.1I. 



(. Ad. sk. ; skull. Vohemar, K.E. A. Crossley [C.]. 70..').5.4o. 



Madagascar. 

 /. 9 iiTi"'. liead : Finnarantsna, Eoyal Society [P.]. 97.91. 29. 

 pkiill. Central Mada- 



gascar ( Dr. C. f. 

 I'uis-iilli Major). 



