xrcmiF-NE. 695 



from titienne GeofTroy's classical paper on the Fruit-bats (ISIU), in 

 which he described a new genus, " CephaJotes,'' including two 

 species, C. peroni [ = Dol)sonia j^eroni] and C. pallasi [new name of 

 Vespertilio cepludotes = Xi/ctimene cephalotes]. The type of Cepha- 

 lotes, by tautology, is K cephalotes, and that also E. Geoffrey 

 intended this species (not peroni) as the type of the new genus is 

 clear not only (as has been pointed out by Palmer, 1898) from 

 several passages in the original description of Cephalotes, but even 

 more unquestionably so from the fact that, having satisfied himself 

 of the necessity of a generic separation of the two species, E. Geoffrey, 

 in 1828, kept V. cephalotfs in the genus Cephalotes, and proposed a 

 now generic name, Hypodcrma, for C. peroni. Nearly all sub- 

 se(iueut writers took, however, a diffrfrcnt view of tin's nomen- 

 clatural question. Probably without knowledge of E. Geoffroy's 

 pajjcr of 1810, lUiger had, in 1811, placed Pallas's V. cephalotes in 

 a distinct genus, Harpyia (preoccupied in Entomology), and this is 

 the name under which the present genus has been commonly 

 known until quite recently, whereas Cephalotes was generally 

 accepted as the generic name of C. peroni (see antea, p. 458). — 

 Gelasinux (1837) is a name for whicli Tcmminck is technically 

 responsihle, although he quoted it only to have an opportunity of 

 saying that it was not required (" cette innovation fviz. Hypo- 

 derma instead of Cephdotes^ nous parait aussi supertlue que la 

 denomination generique Gelasinus, sous laquclle nos naturalistes 

 dans rinde nous out adressd VHarpyia Pallasii'"). An attempt to 

 revive this name was made by Matschie (189!)\ — Uronycterts, 

 based on the species Nyctimene albiventer. was originally described 

 by Gray (1863) as a subgenus of Cynopterus, differing from thi-^ 

 latter in restricted sense chiefly by its longer tail; when, four 

 years later, it was pointed out by Peters that albiventer is in reality 

 not a Cynopterus but a " Harpyia," Gray of course dropped the 

 name and jjhiced it in the synonymy of the latter genus (1870). It 

 was revived, for a few years( 1892-1899), by some authors, to replace 

 the preoccupied " Harpyia." — Lastly, in 1899, Matschie proposed 

 to split the present genus into two subgenera, " Oelasiniis" (one 

 species, N. cephalotes) aud " Bdelyyma" (subg. n., one species, 

 .V. major). Among the supposed differential characters of Bdelyyma 

 given by Matschie the only one -worth mentioning here is the 

 prosenca of "zwei deutliche Nebenhcicker" in p^ ; this refers to 

 the more or less distinct depression in the cutting-edge of p^ (and 

 p,) so frecpiently seen in various 9[)ecies of Xyctimene, a character 

 which (as shown by Oldfleld Thomas, 1900, and evident at a glance 

 from the table above, p. 687) is of very little value for a discrimina- 

 tion of the specie?, and of none at all for a natural subdivision of 

 this perfectly homogeneous genus. 



