VESPERTILIO. 333 



207. Vespertilio nipalensis. The Nepal Bat. 



Vespertilio pallidiventris, Hodgson, Calc. Journ, N. H. iv, p. 286 



(1844) (name only). 

 Vespertilio nipalensis, Dobson, P. A. S. B. 1871, p. 214 ; id. Mon. As. 



Chir. p. 141; id. Cat. Chir. B.M. p. 302; Anderson, Cat. p. 140; 



Scully, J. A. S. B. Ivi, pt. 2, p. 253. 



Muzzle narrow, but with distinct half-naked glandular pro- 

 minences between the eyes and nostrils. Ears not extending 

 to the nostrils when laid forward, narrow and bluntly pointed ; 

 outer margin of the ear-conch hollowed out beneath the tip, which 



Fig. 107. Head of Vespertilio nipalensis. (Dobson, Mon. As. Chir.) 



projects outwards considerably, lower half of outer margin convex, 

 terminating, without any lobe, in front of the base of the tragus. 

 The tragus is long, narrow, pointed, and curved slightly outwards ; 

 a small lobule at the base of the outer margin. 



Wings from, the base of the toes. Fur of the head and back 

 dense and long, the long hair extending on the face to between 



The canines in both jaws very short, in the lower jaw resembling 

 premolars ; the first and second premolars are minute, and in the 

 upper jaw scarcely distinguishable without the aid of a lens. 



Colour of fur above black with brown tips ; below pure white, 

 the basal two thirds of the hair being black. 



Dimensions. Head and body 1'65 inches, tail T35, ear from base 

 of outer margin 0'6, forearm 1-35. 



Distribution. The only specimen known, now in the Indian 

 Museum, Calcutta, is from Katmandu, Nepal. 



The above description is taken from Dobson's. I have not 

 examined the specimen. Scully has shown that Hodgson's V. palli- 

 diventris was the same species. 



A bat which will probably be found hereafter in Baluchistan and 

 Southern Afghanistan is V. desertorum, Dobson (see Cat. Chir. 

 B. M. p. 304), the type of which was obtained at Jalk, within the 

 Persian frontier, and which was subsequently classed by the 

 describer as a subspecies or variety of the European V. emarginatus. 

 V. desertorum is in any case an extremely well-marked race, larger 

 than the European bat, very pale-coloured, both as regards the 

 fur and the membranes, with very thin ears, extending when laid 

 forward to the nostrils, and with the outer margin of the ear-conch 

 deeply and subangularly emarginate about one third below the tip. 



