SHREWS AND BATS 293 



and seasons of flowering and fruiting of certain kinds 

 of trees. They have a special liking for the fruits 

 of devdars, Polyaltliia ; country-almonds, Terminalia 

 catappa; and kadams, Nauclea Kadumba ; and where- 

 ever such trees abound they form centres of attrac- 

 tion at the times at which their fruits have reached 

 a certain stage of development. Devdars and 

 kadams normally produce only one crop of fruit 

 annually. This is developed from flowers that in 

 the case of the devdar are produced in spring, 

 and in that of the kadam on the first onset of 

 the monsoon rains, but in both alike it becomes 

 alluring to the bats in July and August. The 

 country-almonds, on the other hand, have no less 

 than three successive crops corresponding with 

 inflorescences that appear coincidently with the 

 onset of the hot weather and the beginning and 

 end of the rainy reason. Hence, whilst the 

 devdars and kadams are only visited once a year, 

 country-almonds remain attractive during a great 

 part of each annual period, although they are 

 specially so at the same time as the other trees 

 are, because the spring inflorescence and the crop 

 of fruit connected with it are much more abundant 

 than those developed later. 



During the hot-weather months flying-foxes 

 almost entirely desert the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of Calcutta, and their reappearance in the 

 town in the end of June or the beginning of July 



