PTEUOPUS TAMPTKUS. 345 



Earlier attempts at subdividing the species. — In 1820, the elder 

 Dcsmarest, basing entirely on information forwarded by Leschenault 

 de la Tour to E. Geoffrey, rightly pointed out the difference in colour 

 between the Java {'■'• Pt. javanicus" Desm.) and Timor forma {'^ Pt. 

 edulis," Geoff.), but only five years later the name javanicus was 

 by Temminck put down as a synonym of eduli^, and practically 

 disappeared from literature. In 1837, Temminck himself called 

 attention to the existence of a large (^^ Pt. edidis") and- small 

 " species " (" Pt. funereus," Temm.) of tliis type of bat ; the former 

 corresponds, to a certain extent, to the three large, the latter 

 (funereus) approximately to the three small forms of P<. vampyrus; 

 though Temminck failed to give a correct account of the characters 

 and range of these two species, and later authors, chiefly for this 

 reason, evidently found considerable difficulty in discriminating 

 them from each other, Pt. funereus survived in literature until 

 definitely declared synonymous with Pt. edulis by Peters (1867) 

 and Dobson (1878). Again, in 1853, Temminck separated the Bali 

 and Lombok form as Pt. pluton ; though clearly and correctly 

 diagnosed, this " species " shared the fate of Pt. funereus. Lastly, in 

 1905, Mearns described the Philippine representative of Pt. vam- 

 pyrus, on the basis of a single specimen, as a new species, Pt. la- 

 nensis. — The name javanicus, Desm., is technically a synonym of 

 vampyrus, L., Temminck's funereus of edidis, Geofl*. ; Temminck's 

 pluton and Mearns's lanensis are available as names of, respectively, 

 the Bali-Lombok and Philippine forms. 



Key to the Suhspecies of Pteropus vampyrus. 



a. Non-melanistic forms : mantle generally 



some shade of huffy, much p iler than, 

 and stronglv contrasting with, back. 

 a'. Averagiuy: much smaller : forearm 



]82-5-190mm. (Borneo ; Natunas) . . Ft. v. natunes, Tp. 358. 

 b' . Averaging much larger: forearm 195- 

 2'20 mm. 

 «". Forearm 195-209 mm. (Malacca ; 



Sumatra) Pt. v. malaccensis, p. 34fi, 



J-. Forearm 203-220 mm. (Java) .... Pt. v. vampyrus, p. 349, 



b. Jlelanistic foims : mantle generally 



t)lackish or vandyck-browTi, similar in 

 colour to, or not strongly contrasting 

 with, back. 

 c'. Averaging much larger: forearm about 



21-1-217 mm. (Bali ; Lombok) .... Ft. v. plvion, p. 353. 

 d'. Averaging much smaller : forearm 

 182-5-201 mm. 

 c*. Mantle generally blackish. (Timor; 



Savu) Pt.v. edulis, p. 356. 



1^. Mftntle generally with some trace of 



pskr colour. (Philippine.^) ^' -• IfTtermif:,^. 8oR, 



