436: Dr. E. P. Wright on the Bats of the Seychelles. 
the drupe, subglobose, 4-grooved, slightly compressed, is 1 line 
in diameter, with a polished submembranaceous lax pericarp, 
apparently filled with mucilaginous juice which disappears in 
drying, enclosing four nucules, as before explained, attached 
to a membranaceous ventricose central column.* 
3. Rhabdia viminea, Dalz. in Hook. Icon. tab. 823 ;—Ehretia 
(Xerodema) viminea, Wall. Cat. 906; DC. Prodr. ix. 569 ; 
—Thretia cuneata, Wight, Icon. iv. tab. 1385 ;—ramosa, 
ramis teretibus, vimineis, adpresse setosis; foliis alternis, 
coplosis, cuneato-oblongis, apice rotundatis et brevissime 
mucronatis, supra glabris, subtus adpresse setosis ; petiolo 
limbo 10-plo breviore: racemis in ramulis novellis termi- 
nalibus, brevissimis, 2—3-floris; pedicellis brevibus, imo 
bracteatis ; sepalis lanceolatis, pilosis; corolla breviter tu- 
bulosa, limbi lobis oblongis, apice rotundatis, campanulatim 
expansis ; antheris lineari-oblongis, exsertis ; drupa parva, 
pallida.x—In India orientali, provv. Martaban, Madras, et 
Malabar. 
This, according to Dr. Wight, is a small, very branching 
shrub, growing on the sandy banks of rivers, like the two 
preceding species. The drawings of Wight and Hooker quite 
agree in all points of structure with the figures given by Mar- 
tius of the typical species. The axils are 2-3 lines apart; 
the leaves are 8-10 lines long, 8-34 lines broad, on a petiole 
4 line long; the flowering branchlets are }—3 inch long; the 
sepals are lanceolate, canaliculate at the apex, 3 lines long; 
there is no disk; the form and structure of the ovary, style, 
fruit, and albuminous seeds as in the typical species. 
LVI.—Notes on the Bats of the Seychelle Group of Islands. 
By Ep. Percevan Wricut, M.D., F.L.8., Professor of 
Zoology, Trinity College, Dublin. 
THE Seychelle Islands would appear to be destitute of Mam- 
malia, if we except two species belonging to the order Cheiro- 
ptera. One of these is the well-known Pteropus Edwardstt, 
which is very common on all the islands of the group. The 
Flying Fox is a favourite food of the creole inhabitants: I 
never shot a specimen that the body was not eagerly demanded 
by my cook. When skinned within a few minutes after death, 
and roasted the same day, the flesh, though dark, is very good. 
I have often seen and several times shot these bats flying in 
strong sunlight between 8 and 10 in the morning ; but though 
* A representation of this species, with ample structural details, will 
be given in Plate 84 of the ‘Contributions to Botany.’ 
