328 rXKROIMS GKUXTfU'S. 



statcmout tluit " females Mie .ilways darker in colmir than males 

 of the same age" (P. Z. S. IbTcJ, j). 'JdO) is not borne out by tlie 

 series examined by me. 



Measurements. !Seo pp. '6'-')~ , '-VAS. 



liavge. Indian Peninsula, sonth to Ceylon, north and north- 

 east to Ne))al, Assam, and Manipur. (An isolated statement in 

 literature (ilason, Ree. Ind. Mus. ii. pt. ii. p. 105, 1908) as to the 

 occurrence of this species as a " straggler " in the Andanians has 

 no foundation in fact and is in itself highlj- improbable.) 



Habits. — The " Flying Fox " is one of the commonest mammals of 

 India, and one of the most characteristic features of a tropical night. 

 During daylight they rest on large trees, and it is a familiar sight 

 in India to see some huge tree, in the centre of a village, on the 

 skirts of a forest, or in the midst of a wide plain, garnished by 

 hundreds of the dangling bodies of these animals. If not driven 

 away, generation after generatioii resort to the tree once selected, 

 until excess of numbers forces a part to select another. A person 

 stationed near such a spot at the first break of dawn might see the 

 Pteropi come stealing back to their retreat from all quarters. 

 From the arrival of the first comer, until the sun is high above the 

 horizon, a scene of incessant wranglijig and contention is enacted 

 amongst them, as each endeavours to secure a liigher and better 

 place, or to eject a neighbour from too close vicinage. In these 

 struggles the bats hook themselves along the branches, scrambling 

 about hand over hand with some speed, biting each other severely, 

 striking out with the long claw of the thumb, and shrieking and 

 cackling without intermission. Each new arrival is compelled to 

 lly several times round the tiee, being threatened from all points, 

 and when he eventually hooks on, has to go through a series of 

 combats, and be ejected several times before he makes good his 

 tenure. This goes on till 8, 9, or IUa.jj., when they get sleepy, 

 and hang side by side in peace, fanning themselves with their 

 wings, which in repose they wrap round the head, slumbering with 

 the chin on the breast. Their departure for their niahtly rambles 

 is unattended by any of this uproar. As the sun sinks below the 

 horizon the Flying Foxes drop silently irom the branches, ono 

 by one, and sail away into the coming gloom. They generally 

 lirst shape their course to a tank or river, and sweeping down 

 to the water's surface lap as they fly along, until their thirst is 

 sated, when they wend their coui'se to the trees the fruit of which 

 may happen to be in season. They devour almost any ripe fruit, 

 either wild or of the garden (oranges excepted), preferring the 

 inowhooa berries, the tigs of the bar, ])ce])ul, and goolar, the gnava, 

 plantain, and rose-apple; they are singularly fond of the flower- 

 buds of the silk-cotton tree {Enod"n<l ron orientnl-). They eat, 

 when alighted, in silence, hanging head downward by one hind foot, 

 the other being employed in holding the fruit, not by grasping but 

 by sticking its claw in, in the fashion of a prong or fork. On 

 captive specimens it has been observed that they chew the figs, 

 ViUtil they have extracted the juice, when the remaining pulp is 



