PTEKOPUS MEtANOTUS GROUP. 223 



as the former. — After a brief description of Pt. vulgaris, Geoffroy 

 refers to " un autre individu, deniierement apporte de I'ile de 

 France," and which he regards as " une variete dans cette espece" 

 ou account of its slightly different colour. Q'he Paris iluseum 

 possesses a specimen (mounted, wings expanded, skull in situ ; 

 recent Register no. A. 1) marked in handwriting on the underside 

 of the block " Pterojms vulgaris (Geotf.) ; type " (no locality 

 written), and on the printed label " Ancien Cabinet ; Maurice." 

 This specimen, which certainly bears the appearance of having 

 been preserved for many years in the Museum (much bleached, back 

 naked), is, most probably, not one of the true cotj^pes of Pt. vulgaris 

 (and Pt. fuscus), which were obtained in Reunion, but Geoffrey's 

 " variety " of Pt. vulgaris referred to by him in the words quoted 

 above ; if so, it is the individual mentioned by Geoffroy in 1806 

 (Ann. Mus. d'Hist. Nat. vii. pp. 227-230) as having been kept in 

 captivity by Surgeon-Major Eoch, Mauritius, and brought by him 

 to France in 1803. 



" Pteropus pteropus, Brisson," Merriam ; 1895. — Combination 

 introduced into literature by Merriam on the mistaken supposition 

 that Brisson's nomenclature was binomial. 



RemurTcs. — Pt. nigcr is readily discriminated from any other 

 species of the genus by the colour of the upperside : pale sides of 

 back contrasting with dark mantle and spinal tract. 



a. Yg. ad. st. Pui-.-hased (Gardiner). 44.11.16.4. 



b. 6 yg- ad. sk. ; skull. Mauritius. H. Whitely, Esq. [P.]. 66.1.24.1. 



E. The Pteropus melanotus group. 



Species. — Pt. melanotus, tytleri, niadicus, modiglianii, natalis. 



liange. — Nicobar Islands, north to the Audamans, south through 

 Nias and Engano, to Christmas Island (S. of .Java). — This is the 

 absolutely dominant (and probably truly indigenous) type of 

 the genus in the Andaman-Nicobar chain, tlie only other groups 

 represented being the widely spread liypomelanus and the Indo- 

 Malayan vampyrus groups. 



Qenerul characters. — Skull typical Pteropine. Dentition without 

 special modifications ; cingulum of canines generally rather narrow ; 

 posterior basal ledges of p\ Pg, and Pj short, but distinctly marked off 

 from teeth. Ears rather large, broad, scarcely attenuated above, 

 tip rounded off ; interfemoral generally distinctly developed in 

 centre (obsolete in Pt. natalis) ; tibia practically naked above. 

 Prevailing colour of fur blackish above and beneath, either entirely 

 uniform, or with bright colour restricted to mantle or to mantle 

 and centre of breast and belly ; blackish colour in one species 

 (Pt. niadicus) varied with greyish. Sexual differentiation incon- 

 spicuous (as in hy pomelamis group). Size moderate or rather large 

 (forearm 125-165 mm.). The extreme south-eastern species 

 {Pt. natalis) is slightly aberrant in dentition. 



Specific dlfftrentiation. — The Nicobar species (Ft. melanotus) is 

 apparently the least modified form of the group: fur short, bright 



