756 MACROGLOSSUS illXIMUS. 



varying from warm russet Prout's blown, or perlinps rather a tinge 

 between cinnamon and Front's brown (darkest extreme of series), 

 to almost pure wood-brown (palest extreme); individual hairs 

 some tinge of wood-brown (in some individuals almost whitish 

 wood-brown or whitish ecru-drab) at base, with longer or shorter 

 brownish tips ; the variation in the general aspect of the colour of 

 the back produced by the deeper or paler (colour of the tips of the 

 hairs, or by variation in the length of the brownish tips (the shorter 

 the darker tips, the more exposed the wood-brown ground-colour 

 and, consequently, tlio lighter the general aspect of the upperside) ; 

 in the palest specimens the brownish tips arc almost entirely 

 wanting on the back, though traceable on the shoulders, humerus, 

 and forearm. Head similar to back or a little deeper in tinge ; 

 nearly always a perfectly distinct (though often somewhat ill- 

 doiined) darker brown median longitudinal stripe from crown to 

 nape of neek. Underparts deeper or paler fawn-woodbrown, 

 occasionally inclining to whitish wood-brown, as a rule palest 

 (often ap])roaching cream) on forcneck, deepest (sometimes with a 

 distinct touch of russet) on flanks. 



Immature individuals (M. m. ininimns, five skins, Tjilatjap, 

 30 Oct.-29 Nov.) differ from adult only' in the somewhat duller 

 tinges of the colours. 



The colour of M. in. sobrinus is similar to (and varies within the 

 same limits as) that of 3L m. minimus. 



Suhspecies. — -The reasons which have compelled the writer to 

 subdivide i/. minimus into two races are these : — (1) The extent 

 of individual variation in size in Chiroptcra is usually about 

 ten to twelve per cent., very rarely as much as fifteen or seventeen ; 

 i. e., if in a large series of individuals, all belonging to one form, 

 the forearm of the smallest fully adult individual measures 40 mm., 

 that of the largest will be about 44-45, if the minimum is 150, 

 the maximum is about 105. If M. minimus were one homogeneous 

 form, the forearm would vary from 40-48'5 mm. (22 p. ct.), the 

 third metacarpal from 28-5-35 (23 p. ct.), the skull from 24-&-29-5 

 (19 p. ct.), the rostrum from 7'8-10-5 (34 p. ct.), — an individual 

 variation unparalleled among other Mcgachiroptera : (2) All the 

 available adult skulls of J/, mininms may be arranged in a series 

 according to the length of the rostrum, showing a perfectly gradual 

 increase (by tenths or fifths of a millimetre) in the rostrum from 

 7-8 to 8-8 mm., and again (similarly by tenths and fifths) from 9-5 

 to 10-5 mm., but of 32 skulls none has a rostrum between 8-8 and 

 9-5 mm. It will be noticed that the variations 7'8-8*8 and 

 9-5-10-5 represent the usual size variation in Bats, about ten to 

 twelve per cent. : (3) All skulls (six adult) from the Malay 

 Peninsula have the longer type of rostrum, while of the Javan 

 skulls (24 adult) two-thirds have the shorter and only one-third 

 the longer type : (4) The following four Javan localities are 

 represented in the collection (excluding specimens ticketed " Java," 

 without more definite locality), viz., Tjilatjap (13 adult), Tasik- 

 malaja (2), Kediri (3), and Madura Island (2) ; all specimens from 



