518 



EPOMOPHOEUS. 



E. wahlhergi 

 group. 



Senegal to Nigeria 



Shari R 



Sennaar 



Omo R 



Shoa; Abyssinia 



Ery threa 



Cameroons to Angola ... 



Benguela 



Damaraland 



Welle E i 



Bahr-el-Ghaznl 



Uganda 



British E. Africa < 



I, 



German E. Africa \ 



Zambesia 



Limpopo 



E. Cape Ooloiiy 



w. haldemari 

 w. haldemani 



w. halderaani 



w. haldemani 

 w. wahlbergi 

 w. haldemani 

 w. wahlbergi 

 w. wahlbergi 

 w. wahlbergi 

 w. wablberei 



E. gmnMa-nus group. 



lahiatus, 

 ininor. 



labiatus 



r labiatus 

 \ minor 



amtrus, 

 crypturus, 

 gamhianus. 



gambianus 



gambianus 

 ' gambianus 

 ^ anurus 



anurus 



anurus 



[minor *] anurus 



angolensis, 

 pousarguem. 



pousargueei 



angolensis 

 angolensis 



crypturus 

 crypturus I 



Affinities. — A well-defined genus of the Epomophorine section, 

 similar in the tooth-l'ormula (loss of p', m^, and m^) to Epomops, 

 IJi/psignatlms, Micropteropus, and Nanonycteris, but peculiar in the 

 lengthening and narrowing of the rostrum and palate and the 

 deeply depressed postdental palate. In the latter character it is 

 approached only by Micropteropus. 



Chronology and revisions. — The earliest species of Epomop>horus 

 known to zoologists was one of those which exhibit the characters 

 of the genns in their extreme phase ; examples of this large bat 

 obtained by Lieut, llendall at the Eiver Gambia were in 1835 

 and 1836 described under five different names, Pteroj)ns gambianus 

 (Ogilby), macrocephalus (Ogilby), megacephalus (Swainson), eporno- 

 jphorus (Bennett), and luhitei (Bennett). Botta's collections from 

 8ennaar added a second species described by Temminck in 1837, 

 the small Pleroptis lahiatus; Riippell's Pterojms scJioensis (1842) is 

 synonymous with this. Next in order came one of the species 

 inhabiting the eastern and south-eastern regions of the continent, 

 Fteropus wahlbergi, described by Sundevall in 1846 from Natal. 



* As E. minor is known with certainty from Shoa and German E. Africa, 

 there can be no doubt, of course, that it occurs also in British E. Africa, but 

 so far specimens have not been examined by the present writer. 



