228 PTEROPtJS TTTLTCEI. 



like back, occasionally tinged with a brighter colour. Forearm 

 about 149-5 mm. Hah. Andaman Is. 



Slndl and teeth. — Skull as in Pt. melanotus, but conspicuously 

 smaller ; mandible about 53 mm, against 56'5-(30 in the allied 

 species. Dentition differing in no respect from that of the IV^icobar 

 species, except perhaps in a slightly smaller average size of the 

 teeth. 



Colour. — 5 ad., type, teeth much worn ; imm. (probably full- 

 grown), sex indeterminable (73.10.10.1) : — Uniform blackish or 

 blackish seal-brown above and beneath, faintly tinged with dark 

 vandyck-brown on rump ; a few greyish-white hairs among the 

 dark ones on back and muz/le. Middle of breast and belly not 

 differing from sides and flanks ; underparts not differing from back, 

 except perhaps in the still more intensely blackish tinge of the 

 colour ; mantle in certain lights tinged with seal-brown. 



A young male (rather more than half-grown ; 85.8.1.109) is 

 precisely similar to the adult female, excejjt for a rather more 

 pronounced seal-brown colour of the mantle (with a faint sugges- 

 ion of chocolate). 



According to Dobson (P. Z. S. 1873, Z. ,«. c.) females, from the 

 Andamans and Nicobars, are " generally of an intensely black 

 colour throughout ; in a few specimens only, of apparently very 

 aged individuals, the fur on the back of the head and neck has a 

 slightly reddish tinge ; while the males have the whole of the head 

 and nape of the neck to the shoulders bright orange or pale yellow 

 (very rarely, in old males, reddish brown) as in Pt, medius, con- 

 trasting as remarkably with the sombre hues of the females as the 

 brilliantly coloured skin of the male Mandrill contrasts with the 

 same parts in the other sex." So far as Nicobar individuals 

 (Pt. melanotus) are concerned, the alleged sexual difference in 

 colour is imaginary ; all the specimens I have seen (ten), females 

 as well as males, have the mantle, occiput, and middle of breast 

 and belly bright-coloured, contrasting with the blackish colour of 

 the rest of the pelage, and such variation in the bright tinge as 

 does occur is individual, not sexual (compare also Miller, Proc. U.S. 

 Jfat. Mus. xxiv. p. 784 ; 1902). As to the Andaman species 

 (Pt. tytleri), the few specimens available, one of which is a male, 

 another a female, and a third of doubtful sex, are uniform blackish 

 with the mantle practically similar to the back ; but from Dobson's 

 notes (1874 and 1876, I. .9. c.) on the colour of the mantle of some 

 Andaman individuals in the Calcutta Museum it appears certain 

 that in this as in several other melanistic species of Pteropus the 

 mantle is occasionally tinged with a brighter colour. It is probable 

 that Dobson, by comparing Andaman with Nicobar individuals, 

 mistook what is really a specific difference between Pt. ti/tleri 

 (practically uniform blackish) and Pt. melanotus (bright mantle 

 and centre of breast and belly) for a seocual colour difference 

 between individuals of one species (" Pt. nicobaricus ''). 



Measurements. On pp. 230, 231. 

 ■ Specimens ea-amined. The British Museum material. 



