Mr. O. Thomas on EmbsiUoiium. 137 



VII. — Notes on Eraballonura, ivifh Descriptions of new 

 Species. By Oldfield Thomas. 



(Published by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.) 



Just as in their close allies the American Sac-winged Bats 

 {Saccupteryx, &.C.), the members of the Old World genus 

 Emballonura present very definite ciiaracters in the basal 

 region of the skull, and especially in the structure of the 

 " basiaF' fossfe *. These fossae are always large, but vary 

 in depth ; they occupy the area between the basilar suture 

 and the mesopterygoid fossa, from which they are separated 

 by a saddle-backed convexity level with the back end of the 

 pterygoids. On the floor of the fossae are a variable number 

 of low ridges or septa, whose presence, absence, or position 

 afford good specific characters. 



Emballonura sulcata. Mill. 



Of this fine species the British Museum contaii s an 

 example from Ponape, Carolines. 



Its smaller ally, E. seniicaudata, occurs in the New 

 Hebrides, Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa groups. Also in Rptuma, 

 some way to the north of the Fijis. ' 



Both these species have a single broad median septum in 

 the basial fossa, but no lateral septa. 



Emballonura atrata. Pet. 



In spite of its great geographical isolation, this species 

 is in all respects a true Emballonura. Its occuneuce m 

 Madagascar gives to the range of the genus Embillonura a 

 great resemblance to that of Pteropus, its eastward extension 

 being also almost exactly the same. But it does not extend 

 so far north or south. 



Emballonura meeki clavium, subsp. n. 



Similar to the typical form in size and other external 

 characteis, including the shape of the tragus and the 

 characteristic expanded lobate lips. But in the skull there 

 are certain difFereuces in the mesopterygoid and basial region. 



* These fossae, which are present in most Microchiroptera, have some- 

 times been called " basisphenoid " and sometimes "basiuccipital." As a 

 rule, they are more largely in the basisphenoid bone, but they extend in 

 many forms considerably into the basioccipital. Under these circum- 

 stances, they might be simply and conveniently called " basial " fossae. 



