OTONYCTERIS. 299 



The ears are very broad and, when laid forward, extend beyond 

 the nostrils, tips broadly rounded, inner margin convex, outer 

 almost straight for nearly half its length, and without any pro- 

 jecting lobe, lower half also nearly straight. Tragus broad at 

 the base, and becoming broader just above the commencement of 

 the inner margin, but attenuate thence to the narrow but rounded 

 tip. 



Wings from the base of the toes. Calcaneum extending half- 

 way from the foot to the end of the tail. Postcalcaneal lobe 

 narrow. Tail as long as the head and body ; tip projecting from 

 interfemoral membrane, which extends triangularly far behind the 

 feet. Fur soft and long. 



Colour greyish black, the hairs with paler greyish tips, more 

 conspicuous below than above. 



Dimensions. Head and body 2 inches, tail 1'9, ear from crown 

 0-45, forearm 1-65. 



Distribution. This form, which is distinguished from the 

 European Synotus barbastellus by larger ears without any pro- 

 jecting lobe to the outer margin, appears to be common in the 

 Himalayas at an elevation of 5000-8000 feet, and has been taken 

 at Grilgit, Simla, Mussoorie, and Darjiling, in Upper Sikhim at 

 Lachung, and also in the Khasi hills south of Assam. The same 

 bat was also procured by Stoliczka in Eastern Turkestan, and may 

 very possibly replace S. barbastellus in Central and Eastern Asia. 



Habits. According to Hutton the Eastern barbastelle makes its 

 appearance rather late in the evening. It hibernates in winter. 

 He remarks on the very narrow holes and crevices into which it 

 squeezes itself. The 'European form is said to appear in the 

 evening before Plecotus auritus and to fly higher and more rapidly *. 



Genus OTONYCTERIS, Peters (1859). 



Head very flat; nostrils crescentic, at the extremity of the 

 muzzle. Ears large, separate t ; tragus long. 



Dentition : i. *~i, c . -J~, pm. J=J, m. ~. The upper incisors 

 close to the canines and bifid, the outer cusps very small ; single 

 upper premolar large, close to the canine ; lower incisors flattened 

 laterally, the longer diameter of each transverse to the line of 

 teeth ; 'first lower premolar scarcely half the size of the second. 



* An Australian bat, Nyctophilus geoffroyi (N. timoriensis, see Dobson, Cat. 

 Chir. B. M. p. 172), was by mistake included by Jerdon (Mam. Ind. p. 48) 

 amongst Indian forms and stated to have been sent from Mussoorie by Hufcton, 

 who, however (P. Z. S. 1872, p. 704), denied all knowledge of the species. It 

 is evident that the error, which has puzzled some writers on the Indian Mam- 

 malia, arose from a mistake in the printing of Blyth's Catalogue (see J. A. S. B. 

 Ivii, pt. 2, p. 264). 



t According to Dobson, there is, hidden amongst the hairs of the iorenead, 

 a very low band that connects the ears, but practically they are separated. 



