rxKRorus vampvri's group. 320 



General cfii(raclers.— ir<kn\\ ui\modified Pteropino. Dentition re- 

 latively weak; posterior le(]ges ot cheek-teeth practically obliteiiited; 

 cingulum of ctiniiies narrow. Ears loug, tiharply pointed ; inter- 

 femoral nnusuully deej) in centre; t'ur short, adpressed on back; 

 tibia naked above. In most sspecien, mantle liglit-coloured (bnffy ) 

 contrasting wiih dark back, bnt in extreme north-eastern (Philip- 

 pines) and south-eastern torras (Lesser 8unda Islands) a pronounced 

 tendency to complete melanism. Males with lieavier canines and 

 ■rather more rigid fur of mantle, sometimes 'wilh well-defined neck- 

 tufts. Wze medium, large, or very large ; two forms are tlie largest 

 bats knoAvn, J'i. v. vani2)i/n(s and ;>/((('o>i (greatest length of forearm 

 measured, 220 mm.), approached in this respect, but not equalled, 

 only by Pt. inelanopngo)i, uruciisis^ ^*rt^j«r()<».s-, and n:ohilH'rniciis, 

 and Acerodon jnh lins. 



Diff'trentialini of spechs. — The ilvc species aie a])])ai'enlly modi- 

 fications of only two, closely related types: the van pi/riis type, 

 represented by Ff. (/iijanhi^-i, ariJ, InternwUvs, and vampjirus, 

 and the hilei type, represented l)y a single species. — In Pt.r/.(/nnteus 

 (India, Ceylon, Hinialayas, Assam) the mantle is huffy or taunj', 

 strongly contiasting with blackish or dark broxMi bac!<, underside of 

 of body as pale as mantle or washed with tawny or pale rnssct. hut 

 never as dark as back ; this style of colour is quite similar to that of 

 I'/, riifds and coiuD'enifis. In the Maldive Archipelago J^t. (/it/antfux 

 is replaced by a slightly smaller, rather shorter-muzzled and larg'er- 

 toothed form (Ft. ariel). ft. »'('//?/>'//•<'.< (Indo- 11 aliy an Archii^elago, 

 including Malay Peninsula and Lesser Sunda Islands) differs from 

 Pt. yujunteiis only in the rather larger, in some local races much 

 larger, size and in having the underside of the body quite or very 

 nearly as dark as the back. Jn so far there is a clear line of 

 separation, in characters as in habitat, between Pt. vnmpjirnis and 

 /'<. f/i(/(7»7«//«, the former being a raliu'r larger, dark-belliid Indo- 

 Malayan, the latter a ratiier smaller, pale-bellied, Indian re|)re- 

 sentative of the same type, and the two forms have in lact always 

 been considered perfectly distinct s[)ecies. Bnt Pt. inter, 'te'fiun, 

 which inhabits nn in'ermodiatc area (Tenasseiim), is, at least to 

 some extent, intermediate also in characters; with the dark 

 underside of a Pt. vampi/rvs it combines the smaller size of a 

 Pt. yigaixti'us. This may be an indication that a completer material 

 Irom the whole region between the Malay Peninsula and Assam 

 will show a gradual transition from /-*/. vavipi/i-us to /'/. ijujauteust. 

 — Pt. hjln is chieHy cliaracterized by its much smaller size, as 

 compared with otiier forms of this group ; it seems to be confined 

 to Siam and Saigon, and is a])parent]y the only species of the 

 group recorded from these countries. It is possible that Pt. Jylei 

 represents a truly indigenous, continental type of the vam/x/nts 

 group, as opposed to the much larger Indo-Malayan type, which in 

 Tenasserim is represented by P(. {iitermediiis, in the Himalayas aud 

 India by Pt. (ivjnniens. 



JJJliiit'us of ijroiip.--f>vc the /V. ntvhiljcnilcus g oup (p. 384). 



