TAPHOZOUS. 345 



217. Emballonura semicaudata. The Polynesian sheath-tailed 

 Bat. 



Vespertilio semicaudatus, Peale, U. S.ExpUExp., Quad. p. 23 (1848). 

 Emballonura semicaudata, Dobson, Cat. Chir. B. M. p. 360. 



The extremity of the narrow muzzle projects beyond the upper 

 lip ; nostrils circular, with a shallow concavity between ; lower lip 

 crossed in the middle by a furrow, which expands above. Sides 

 of the face and the whole muzzle in front of the eyes half -naked ; 

 some long hairs on the upper lip ; forehead thickly covered with 



Fig. 113. Head of Emballonura semicaudata. 



long hair. The ears do not extend to the nostrils when laid 

 forward, the tips are narrowly rounded off ; outer margin of the 

 ear-conch concave below the tip, slightly emarginate below the 

 base of the tragus, and terminating in a short convex lobe ; inner 

 margin straight above, slightly convex below. Tragus almost squarely 

 truncated above, both margins nearly straight and subparallel, the 

 inner slightly concave, the outer convex near the end, and having 

 a small indistinct lobe folded on itself opposite the base of the 

 inner margin. 



Wings from the ankles. Tail very slender, only the tip pro- 

 jects above the middle of the large interfemoral membrane. Fur 

 long and short, but not dense. 



Colour of fur reddish to blackish brown, rather paler below ; the 

 hairs a little paler towards the base. 



Dimensions of a male from the Mergui Archipelago in spirit : 

 Head and body 1-65, tail 0-5, ear from crown of head 0-42, fore- 

 arm 1-75. 



Distribution. This species until lately had only been found in 

 the islands of the Pacific, especially in the Fiji Islands. Eecently a 

 specimen was received at the British Museum from Sarawak in 

 Borneo, and Dr. Anderson has found the same bat in the Mergui 

 Archipelago. 



Genus TAPHOZOUS, Geoffroy (1813). 



Muzzle conical, broad behind, narrow in front, terminated by 

 the slightly projecting inner margins of the nostrils, which are 

 valvular and circular or elongate. Crown of head slightly raised, in 



