CHAPTER II. 



THE FRUIT-EATING BATS OR FLYING FOXES — THE KALONGS — THE LEAF-NOSED BATS OR VAMPIRES 

 — ORIENTAL SUPERSTITIONS — THE HORSESHOE BATS — THE RHINOPOMA. 



^^T'^HE Fruit-eating Bats or Flying Foxes, Ptcropidiv, are pretty 

 I evenly distributed over the tropical regions of the Old World 

 -L and Australia. They range over all Africa and the East of 

 Asia northward to China and the South of Japan. They are found also 

 in Australia and Tasmania, and in the Pacific islands as far east as Samoa ; 

 but do not occur in New Zealand or the -Sandwich Islands. 



Naturalists have divided the Pteropidas into nine genera and sixty-five 

 species, but an account of them all would be wearisome. We shall 

 therefore confine our notice to a few species of the most characteristic 

 genus, the Pteropus, from which the family derives its name. 



THE KALONG. 



This species, the Flying Fox or Kalong oi English travelers, Ptero- 

 pus cdulis, is the largest member of the order, and sometimes attains the 

 size of a squirrel, with wings measuring four feet across. It has a muz- 

 zle somewhat like a dog's, pretty large, naked and pointed ears, and a 

 highly developed flying membrane, which, however, between the hind 

 legs is reduced to a narrow strip. It has no tail. Its dental formula is 



1."-=", C. '^, M. 5ZZ5 = 34 



2 — 2 I — I 6 — 6^^ 



The color of the back is a deep brownish-black, that of the belly reddish- 

 black, the head and neck of a reddish-brown. 



It is found chiefly in the islands of the East Indian seas, and frequents 

 the numerous orchards which surround the native villages, especially 

 preferring the trees of the Durian, a fruit which Wallace says it is worth 

 a voyage to the East to eat, so exquisite is its flavor. By day the Kalongs 



