218 PTEEOPXrS NIGER. 



Mauritius specimens : — Median tract of buck and rump, from 

 ehoulders to interfemoral, approximately vandj'ck-brown, darkest 

 (tinged with seal-brown) anteriorl}-, becoming gradually lighter 

 (more pure vandyck-broAvn) posteriorly; the width of this dark 

 longitudinal area varies individually between 28 and 38 mm. 

 Sides of back, rump, and fur on upperside of tibia buff, strongly 

 contrasting with dark spinal region. — Breast, belly as far back as 

 anal region, and flanks dark seal-brown with a peculiar oily gloss, 

 and slightly washed with mars-brown on middle of breast and 

 belly ; anal region and fur on underside of tibia buify or ochraceous- 

 buft'y. — Mantle glossy blackish seal-brown, darkest in the middle, 

 passing posteriorly gradually into the dark colour of the spinal 

 stripe, anteriorly tinged with chestnut, aud lightening on occiput 

 to dark cinnamon-rufous ; sides of neck similar to mantle, shading 

 into golden tawny posteriorly near insertion of antebrachial 

 membrane ; foreneck blackish seal-brown, similar to (or rather 

 darker than) breast. — Interocular space and sides of face huffy or 

 ochraceous-bulfy ; crown, temporal region, chin, and throat bufty 

 more or less strongly tinged with tawny or pale hazel. 

 Measurements. On pp. 221, 222. 



Sjjecimens examined. Ten, in the collections of the Paris, Leyden, 

 Berlin, and British Museums. 



Mange. The Mascarenes : lleunion, Mauritius. 

 Some early writers have recorded this species from Madagascar, 

 as a rule, however, with a sign of query. The only recent records 

 from that island known to me are Bartlett's in P. Z. S. 1875, p. G3, 

 of a specimen stated to have been obtained at Tamatave (bv 

 Mr. Waters), and Jentink's (Cat. Ost. p. 252 ; Cat. Syst. p. 138) of 

 a specimen from Madagascar (Mulie, 1876). The former I have 

 not seen ; the Leyden specimen does not ditler from Mauritius 

 examples. The correctness of the locality is in both cases open to 

 doubt ; the specimens may have been brought alive from the 

 Mascarenes to Madagascar. 

 Tj/2)e not in existence. 



Hahits. — This species, de la Nux wrote from Eeunion in a letter 

 to Buffon (Suppl. iii. pp. 253-267), is only found in the forests ; it 

 rests in the crowns of the trees, suspended from the branches, 

 wrapped in its wings, not (as Pt. suhniger) in hollow trees or caves. 

 It is less strictly nocturnal in its habits than Pt. suhniger ; by day- 

 time it is sometimes seen flying at a considerable height, and it is 

 probable that it not infrequently passes from Reunion to Mauritius 

 and vice versa. Its favourite food in Eeunion is bananas, peaches, 

 guava, mistletoe-berries, &c., but the food varies of course greatly 

 according to the season ; also it is fond of sucking the juice of the 

 blossoms of various species of Umbellifers ; at the time of the year 

 (mid-summer, i. e. January-February) these plants are in bloom, 

 the lioussettes come in great numbers down to the lower j)arts of 

 the island, and the ground may here and there be found literally 

 covered with blossoms torn off by these bats. Pairing takes 

 place about the middle of autumn (May) ; the period of gestation 



