85 



observed, especially in the late forenoon. Very bright fresh 

 examples of Urbkola comma were in number, and Parart/e wegera 

 with Kpinepliele jurtina were observed. 



The party sat down to tea in a pleasant garden at the back of 

 one of the houses in the town, and an early return to London was 

 made. 



AUGUST 2ith, 1916. 



Mr. Stanley Edwards exhibited a Flying-fox, Pteropiis sp., from 

 Australia, and communicated the following note on the genus: — 



" The genus Pteropus has more than 40 species. All are of large 

 size, and the absence of a tail, the long pointed muzzle, and the 

 woolly fur covering the neck, render their recognition easy. They 

 are commonly known as 'Flying Foxes,' or 'Fox-Bats.' One 

 species from Java measures five feet across the fully-extended wings, 

 and is thus the largest known species of the order. The range of 

 this genus extends from Madagascar and the neighbouring islands 

 through the Seychelles to India, Ceylon, Burma, the Malay Archi- 

 pelago, S. Japan, New Guinea, Australia and Polynesia (except the 

 Sandwich IslanJs, Ellice's Group, Gilbert's Group, Tokelau, and 

 the Low Archipelago). Of the islands inhabited by it some are 

 very small and remote from any continent, such as Savage Island 

 in the South Pacific, and Kodriguez in the Indian Ocean. Although 

 two species inhabit the Comoro Islands, which are scarcely 200 

 miles from the African coast, not a single species is found in Africa, 

 but in India, separated by thousands of miles of almost unbroken 

 ocean, a species exceedingly closely allied to the common Mada- 

 gascar Fox-Bat is abundant. The Malay Archipelago and Australia 

 are their headquarters, and in some places they occur in countless 

 multitudes. Mr. Macgillivray remarks of P. conspicillatns, "On the 

 wooded side of a hill on Fitzroy Island, I one day fell in with this 

 bat in prodigious numbers, looking while flying in the bright sun- 

 shine (so unusual for a nocturnal animal) like a large flock of rooks. 

 On close approach a strong musky odour became apparent, and a 

 loud incessant chattering was heard. Many of the branches were 

 bending under their load of bats, some in a state of inactivity, sus- 

 pended by their hind claws, others scrambling along among the 

 boughs, and taking to wing when disturbed." 



Mr. Hugh Main exhibited : — 



