262 PTEROPODHLE. 



met with and appears to be of local distribution. It extends on 

 the west to the Persian Gulf, where I obtained specimens, on the 

 east and south-east throughout the Malay Archipelago to the 

 Philippines and Timor. 



Halits. This is, in many cases at all events, a cave-haunting 

 bat. I shot several in the large salt-caves of Kishm Island, Persian 

 Gulf, where it abounded, and Mr. Murray found it in old tombs 

 and in caves near Karachi. An allied species, X. ceyyptiaca, inhabits 

 the chambers of the Pyramids and has been found in a cave in 

 Palestine. 



Like the other fruit-bats, this animal is very voracious and 

 possesses great powers of flight. According to Hodgson, it has 

 been known to travel 30 or 40 miles and to return in a single night. 

 Scully has shown that bats^of this species, visiting the Nepal 

 Valley, probably come from the Nowakot district, only 16 miles 

 distant, not from the plains, as Hodgson supposed. Dobson was 

 informed that near Moulmein a colony of X. amplexicaudata was 

 found to feed on mollusca left exposed by the tide. 



Genus CYNOPTERTJS, F. Cuv. (1825). 

 Syn. Pachysoma, Geoffr. (1828). 



Muzzle much shorter and blunter than in Pteropus or Xanthar- 

 pyia ; nostrils projecting by their inner margins, between which 

 is a broad furrow. A shallow vertical groove crosses the 

 middle of the upper lip and has broad naked margins. Index 

 finger with a distinct claw ; metacarpal bone of the middle finger 

 as long as the index finger or longer ; wings from the sides of the 

 hairy back and from the base of the first toe. 



Dentition in all Indian forms : i. j, c. j^, pm. |^|, m. ^. 



This genus is found throughout the Oriental region. 



Synopsis of Indian, Ceylonese, and Burmese /Species. 



A. Tail present. 



a. Base of outer margin of ear-conch straight 



or faintly convex, 

 a'. Ears nearly double the length of the 



muzzle and margined with white C. marginatus, p. 263. 



V. Ears not much longer than muzzle and 



with white borders C. brachyott(s, p. 264. 



c'. Ears not much longer than muzzle, 



without white border C. scherzeri, p. 264. 



b. Base of outer margin of ear-conch forming 



a distinct rounded projection C. brachysoma, p. 264. 



B. No tail C. blanfordi, p. 265. 



