100 Mr. K. Andersen on some 



seum, an adult male, mounted skin, skull extracted, soft palate 

 destroyed, two pairs of upper incisors. Skull figured in 

 P. Z. S. 1861, pi. i. fig. 3. Type examined. 



Epomophorus comptus, H. Allen, Proc. Ac. N. S e i . Philad. 

 18(51, p. 158. — Type locality, according to Allen, " VV. 

 Africa " ; as belonging to Du Chaillu's collections the speci- 

 men was no doubt obtained in Gaboon ; type in the collection 

 of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. All (hat 

 can be seen from Allen's long description is that E. comptus 

 must be an Epomops, not an Epomophorus, and that the single 

 specimen he had before him must have been a female (he 

 does not mention the sex). Now, the fact that the type 

 locality of E. comptus is the same as that of E. franqueti 

 easily suggests the idea, if not, perhaps, E. comptus is simply 

 the female of E. franqueti. Allen does not seem to have 

 known the description of E. franqueti, in any case he does 

 not compare E. comptus with that species, but only with 

 Epomophorus " gambianus" and " schoerwis" But even if 

 Allen had known Tomes's description, it is doubtful if he 

 would have identified Du Chaillu's specimen with E. fran- 

 queti, considering that the type of franqueti is a large male, 

 that of comptus a small female; the sexual difference, in size 

 as well as in certain other characters, is in Epomops con- 

 siderable. I may add that my suspicion as to the possible 

 identity of E. comptus and franqueti was strengthened by 

 the circumstance that, although I have had the privilege of 

 examining a larger series of Epomops than any other single 

 writer, I have never been able to find more than one species 

 of the present genus in Gaboon or in the neighbouring- 

 countries to the north, east, and south. All doubt has now 

 been removed by the additional information most kindly sent 

 me by Mr. James A. G. Rehn, Philadelphia, after a re-exami- 

 nation of the type of E. comptus. It is a female of E. fran- 

 queti; all the decisive characters and measurements entirely 

 agree with those of females of the eastern race of that species, 

 E. f. franqueti. The type is an unmounted skin, skull ex- 

 tracted, soft palate destroyed ; as mentioned by Allen, a single 

 pair of upper incisors (actually lost, but alveoli present); 

 forearms broken, hence the extraordinarily small measurement 

 of the forearm given by Allen (3 in. = 76 mm.) ; from the 

 measurement of the third metacarpal given by Rehn (in litt.), 

 viz. 60 mm., it may safely be said that the real length of the 

 forearm has been not less than 85 mm. — Mammalogists will 

 no doubt feel some pleasure in being able to put E. comptus 

 down as a synonym of E. franqueti. Those who, with 

 Dobson's Catalogue as a guide, have tried to identify a 



