492 Epnjiors. 



al)oiit one millimetre, in others not appearing externally, but even 

 in the latter case generally perceptible to the touch as a small 

 pointed knob beneath the integument. Caudal vertobrie two, tlie 

 posterior a mere nodule (two skeletons of E.f. hueltlkoferi examined). 

 Interfemoral unmodified, breadth at middle of tibia about four to 

 five times that of tibia. 



iSe.cucd differentiation. — (1) Adult males with a pair of large 

 shoulder pouches, lined with a glandular membrane, and from which 

 long, somewhat rigid, orange or yellowish-white hairs arise, 

 projecting by their extremities from the, aperture of the pouches, 

 and "when these are everted forming large epaulette-like shoulder 

 tufts (pouclies and tufts larger than in Epouiophorus) ; in females 

 and immature males absent or quite rudimentary. (2) Males with 

 two pairs of pharyngeal sacs ; either anterior sac opening into 

 pharynx by a large oval aperture immediately behind oral cavity, 

 and extending outward under cover of the integument beneath and 

 behind the ears ; either posterior sac sujjported by the deeply 

 concave outer surface of the epihyal, thence extending outward and 

 backward beneath tlie integument and sterno-mastoid muscle, across 

 tlie clavicle, to the antero-inferior part of the thorax (see Dobson, 

 r. Z. S. ISSl, i)p. G8&, 089, tig. 4); pharyngeal sacs absent in 

 females. (3) Males averaging considerably larger than females. 



Itange. From tSierra Leone (perhaps Senegambia) in the west, 

 along the Guinea coast, eastward to Niam-Niam, the western bank 

 of Victoria Nyanza, and JSemliki Kiver, southward through Gaboon 

 to Benguela and Katanga. The range of the genus almost exactly 

 covers the western Ethiopian forest region. 



Habits. — Tlie " bindem," as these bats are called by the natives 

 of Southern Cameroons, probably make more noise at night than 

 any other creature of that country (G. L. Jiates writes, P. Z. S. 

 1905, i. p. 72). "Their monotonous croaking racket may be 

 heard in the bush-growth about villages any night — -at least if any 

 of the wild trees growing in such places are in fruit. They were 

 especially abundant about my house when an ' Udika ' tree near 

 hy was bearing. Their noise, consisting of a sort of croaking bark 

 repeated many times in a monotone, was generally heard coupling 

 from a thicket where the bat seemed to be hanging. But some- 

 times, at dead of night, the sound was heard passing overhead, 

 from a bat flying. Whenever a bunch of I'ipe bananas was hanging 

 on my porch, it was visited by the bats at night. When the 

 bananas got very soft, the bats would eat several of them in a night 

 and bite many more. They took their bites on the wing while 

 tiying to and fro. Boys would sometimes find these bats hanging 

 on bushes in the daytime. On the last day of August and the first 

 of >September two females were brought to me, each with a half- 

 grown young one, which had been found clinging to the mother." 



Affiiitii's. — Ejiomops is in no single character more primitive 

 than Itousettus (except perhaps in having the membranes inserted 

 rather lovi'er down on the flanks), but in several respects' much 

 more highly specialized. The bats of this genus subsist chiefly. 



