284 



close to the tree, and presently had the satisfaction of seeing the mother return,, 

 flying straight to the spot where I had taken her, and in a few minutes she was 

 away again and over the trees with her twins." 



As the narrator well remarks, this incident is noteworthy not only as a touch- 

 ing instance of parental affection, but likewise for the circumstance that the young 

 bats, which up to the time of their capture had existed in a kind of parasitical con- 

 dition, when thrown upon the world were quite capable of taking care of them- 

 selves. In other Mammals born in a helpless state, the power of accommodating 

 themselves to new conditions, and the instinct of self-preservation, are acquired 

 gradually, whereas in these young bats they were assumed in a moment. 



THE TUBE-NOSED BATS 

 Genus Harpyiocephalus 



The production of the nostrils into a pair of tubes has already been noticed as 

 distinctive of a genus of fruit-bats (p. 259), and it is, to say the least, remarkable 

 to find the same feature reappearing in a less marked degree in a group of insectiv- 

 orous bats belonging to the Vespertilionida. These tube-nosed bats, constituting the 

 genus Harpyiocephalus, are restricted to Tibet, India. Ceylon, and the Malay Archi- 

 pelago, and Japan, where they always inhabit hilly districts. They are sufficiently 

 distinguished at a glance from all the other insect-eating bats by their divergent 

 tube-like nostrils, of which the apertures are circular. It may, however, be added 

 that their teeth are 34 in number, of which there are on each side f incisors, a sin- 

 gle canine, and f cheek-teeth. Moreover, the upper surface of the membrane be- 

 tween the hind legs is characterized by its thick covering of hair. The greater 

 number of the eight species of these bats occur in Tibet and the Himalayas, some of 

 them also extending into the highlands of India and Ceylon ; there is also one from 

 Java and some of the other Malayan islands, and another from Japan. The white- 

 bellied tube-nosed bat (H. leucogaster) of the Himalayas is remarkable for its bril- 

 liant coloration, the fur being golden orange on the head, the base of the hairs 



grayish, and on the back pale rufous brown with 

 gray at the base. The fur on the membrane is 

 bright ferruginous, the upper surface of the inter- 

 femoral membrane and toes being well covered. 

 Beneath, the fur is white throughout on the chin 

 and throat, the rest of the lower parts having 

 bicolored fur gray at the base with white tips. 



Writing of its habits in the Northwest Hima- 

 layas, Captain Hutton says that it occurs at an ele- 

 vation of about 5,500 feet, but does not appear to be 

 HEAD OF TUBE-NOSED BAT. common in the hills, the Dehra-Doon being proba- 



( After Dobson.) 



bly its true locality there. An example which flew 



into a room at Jeripani (below Masuri), at night, kept low down in its flight, in- 

 stead of soaring towards the ceiling, passing the tables and chairs, as if afraid to 



