PTEROPUS. 259 



bitten off in large mouthfuls, both cheeks being crammed full and 

 the tongue protruded. 



The numbers in a colony are at times very great, and the trees 

 on which the bats perch are frequently injured and sometimes 

 killed. Pteropi fly singly, never in a flock, with a steady but not 

 very rapid flight. Anderson counted, in Calcutta, 70 passing 

 per minute, for" about half an hour, over a breadth of about 

 250 yards, but others could be seen on all sides as far as the eye 

 could detect them. This was in the twilight immediately after 

 sunset. McMaster, at Eangoon, counted, with the help of a 

 friend, 600 passing in five minutes. 



Jerdon relates an instance, in the Ghazipur district, of several 

 individuals being killed by a hot dry wind, and McMaster states 

 the same has been observed at Madras. 



P. mediug has a peculiar offensive musky smell, by which its 

 presence in the neighbourhood may often be detected. This smell 

 Dobson attributes to the secretion from the glands marked by 

 coarse hair on each side of the neck. But these glands are said to 

 be peculiar to the male, whilst, according to Tickell, the female has 

 an equally evil odour. 



The power of flight in this species is sufficient to enable it to 

 visit fruit-trees many miles distant from its resting-place. Stern- 

 dale records having captured one alive, though tired, at sea, 200 

 miles from the nearest land. 



The common Indian flying-fox is easily tamed. The flesh is 

 eaten by many classes of natives of India, and is said by some 

 Europeans, who have tried it, to be well flavoured and delicate. 



The female has but one young (as have most other bats) at a birth, 

 usually born, according to Tickell, about the end of March or in 

 April, and carried about by the mother until the end of May or 

 the beginning of June, by which time the young animal is nearly 

 as large as its parent. 



135. Pteropns edulis. The Malay Flying-Fox. 



Pteropus edulis, Geoffrey, Ann. Mus. xv, p. 90 (1810); Cantor, 

 J.A.S. B. xv, p. 186 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 20 ; Dobson, J. A. S. B. xlii, 

 pt. 2, p. 199, pi. xiv, fig. 3 (ear) ; id. Mon. As. Chir. p. 20 ; id. Cat. 

 Chir. B. M. p. 49 ; Anderson, Cat. p. 100. 

 Kluang, Malay. 



The largest bat known, the size being larger than that of P. medius. 

 Ears naked, acutely pointed, longer than the distance from the 

 eye to the end of the nose, narrower than those of P. medius (the 

 breadth being only half the length), upper outer margin but slightly 

 concave. The wing-membrane arises farther from the middle of 

 the back, and the hairy back is much broader, otherwise the dis- 

 tribution of the fur is similar. 



Colour generally similar to that of P. medius, but rather darker. 

 Head and breast rufous-brown, varying in tint ; hind neck and 



