82i) AmiExni and roRRroExnA. 



Page 227. Pteropus tytleri. 



The tvpe of this form has not heeu avaihiblo for examination, 

 aud the original description (by Geo. E. Mason), though long and 

 detailed enough, leaves one in doubt as to the only point of 

 importance, viz., its ditferentitil characters as compared with 

 Pteropus melanotus. liately, however, the British Museum has 

 received a specimen (10.7.20.1) which ugrees in every respect with 

 the deseripiion of Ft. ii/tleri, was collected on the same island 

 (Rutland I., South Andamans), on the same date (5 March, 1907), 

 bv the same collector (B. B. Osmaston), aud is of the same sex 

 ( (S ad.), thus for all practical purposes as good as the type. Thi.s 

 specimen is in all points (sliull, dentition, external characters), 

 except one, precisely similar to Pt. melanotus (Nicobar Islands); 

 even the measurements are ideniically the same. The one dis- 

 tinguishing cliaracter is the nearly uniform dai'lc colour of the 

 breast and belly. In Pt. mehawius the centre of the breast and 

 belly is tinged with a ])righter colour (ochraceous-bnff, rich tawny, 

 or some deeper tinge), contrasting with the blackish flanks and 

 sides of the 1)reast and belly ; but this briglit-coloured area is some- 

 times reduced to a relatively small spot (e. g. specimen 111738, 

 U.S. National Museum). In Pt. tytleri (both the type and the 

 topotype) the bright-coloured central area is practically entirely 

 snppressed (though, at least in the topotype, indicated by a 

 seal-brown " wash " of the hairs) ; but the mantle is as pale- 

 coloured (ochraceous-buff ) as in the palest examples of Pt. 

 melanotus. 



After this it becomes doubtful whether the three specimens 

 catalogued, oti p. 229, as Pt. ti/tlcri, and on which the description 

 of this form as printed on pp. 227-228 was based, are really 

 referable to Pt, tytleri. In those three specimens not only the 

 nnderjjarts but the whole of the pelage, including the mantle, sides 

 of neck, and forencck, are blackish or seal-brown. Dobson, who 

 had seen similar, quite or nearly uniform blackish, specimens from 

 the Andamans and Xicobars, believed the difference to be sexual, 

 the bright-mantled individuals, according to him, being males, 

 those with dark mantles and underparts females; and Mason 

 unhesitatingly accepts that view. But so far as Nicobar individuals 

 (Ft. melanotus) are concerned, Dobson was almost certainly mis- 

 taken ; in a series of seven fully adult skins of Pt. melanotus 

 examined by the present writer, all well-preserved and properly 

 labelled (Tillanchong, Trinknt, and Great Nicobar; U.S. National 

 and British Museums), two are females, Avith the mantle and centre 

 of breast and belly as pale, aud as sharply defined against the dark- 

 coloured portions of the fur, as in the five males ; in this small 

 series, in any case, there is no sexual (but a considerable amount 

 of individual) difference in colour. As to the three uniform blackish 

 specimens from the Andamans (p. 229), one is a male (immature), 

 one a female (adult), and one (immature) of doubtful sex, showing 

 that the blackish or seal-brown colour of the mantle and underparts 

 is bv no means characteristic of females only ; and the single adult 



