1873.] Dobson — On Murina and Harpy iocephalus. 107 



' I cannot ascertain how the Sarban stone found its way into the mu- 

 seum. It has been there for several years, and the inscription on it is very 

 much abraded and cut up, and the Pundit has had a great deal of trouble 

 in decyphering it." 



' When these stones were originally set up, Naraina was, as you will per- 

 ceive, called Narain, and Sarban Sarbal. Delhi was also then known as 

 Dhilli, and not Dehli and Dilli as now written and pronounced. 



' The two wells to which these inscriptions relate appear to have been 

 built by banias — and members of the same family within six months of 

 each other, and during the reign of Muhammad-bin Tughluq in the Samvat 

 year 1381, or A. D. 1327. 



' Naraina is 7 miles S. W. of Delhi, and Sarban is 5 miles south of Delhi. 

 The two villages are six miles apart from each other. 



The following papers were read — 



1. On the Genera Murina and BZarpyiocephalus of Gray, — By G. E. 

 Dobson, B. A., M. B., Staff Surgeon BZ. M's British Forces. 



The Genus Murina was formed, in 1812, by Dr. J. E. Gray for the 

 reception of Yespertilio suillus, Temm. which was shown to possess 

 characters generically distinct from other species of Chiroptera, and later 

 Vespertilio karpia, Pallas, was made the type of a new genus BZarpyio- 

 cephalus by the same author. 



These species remained the sole representatives of their respective 



genera till last year when two new species of Murina were added M. 



yrisea, Hutton, and M. cyclotis, Dobson, — and a second species of BZarpyio- 

 cephalus, from the North- Western Himalaya was described by Dr. W. 

 Peters under the name of BZ. BZuttoni. 



The genus BZarpyiocephalus is distinguished from Murina according to 

 Dr. Gray* by having the wing-membrane attached to the base of the toes 

 while in the latter genus it extends along the toe as far as the base of the 

 claw ; also by the hairiness of the feet and interfemoral membrane, and by 

 the possession, in adults, of a single premolar only, in the upper jaw. 



I lately described a new species of Murina — M. cyclotis — which pre- 

 sents characters peculiar to both genera as given by Dr. Gray. It so resem- 

 bles BZarpyiocephalus harpia, Pallas, in the peculiar form of the nostrils, and 

 the distribution, quality and even colour of the fur as to appear on a super- 

 ficial examination to be an immature specimen of that species. But while 

 thus agreeing generally with BZ. harpia, it differs in having the wing mem- 

 brane attached to the base of the claws instead of to the base of the toes, 

 and so belongs equally to both genera. This convinced me that the distinc- 

 tions enumerated by Dr. Gray were not sufficient to separate these species 



* Synopsis of the genera of VespertilionidcB and Noctilionidce ; Ann. and Mag. 

 Nat. Hist. 1866, p. 66. 



