Dec. 6, 1889.] [Allen> 



Description of a New Species of Carollia and Remarks on Carollia 

 brevicauda. 



By Harrison Allen. 

 (Read before the American PJiilosophical Society, December 6, 1889.) 



Carollia is one of the most common of the South American leaf-nosed 

 bats. Notwithstanding its wide range of distribution (it is found from 

 Mexico to the southern limit of Brazil, including the Antilles), the type 

 of the genus is that of the single species also. I have recently examined 

 this form Carollia brevicauda with the object in view of determining 

 whether or not an example of Garollia in the collections of the National 

 Museum might prove to be new. 



The facts which led me to suppose that this might be the case were the 

 following : 



The specimen was smaller than C. brevicauda, the color was of a light 

 chestnut brown tint, instead of the ashy shade of C. brevicauda. The in- 

 terfernoral membrane was not incised. The nose-leaf was relatively small, 

 delicate, with entire, rounded nostrils, and the lower border sharply de- 

 fined to a point near the median line, where a small naked space alone 

 was seen. 



I have had a knowledge of these facts for a long time, but I hesitated 

 to describe the form as new, for in general appearance in the proportions 

 of the membrane, in the form of the ear, in the markings of the wing 

 membranes and the shapes of the terminal phalanges, the two forms ap- 

 peared to be essentially the same. I had but a single specimen a young 

 male from Costa Rica. I concluded that before describing it an examina- 

 tion of all the specimens of Carollia should be made. A large number of 

 specimens of the genus were available for the purpose from the collections 

 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, but unfortunately nine only of 

 the twenty-six examples were in good condition. 



From among these a young male was found, and I was thus able to 

 show that the smaller size of the specimen, as well as the difference of 

 coloration of the new form, as compared with the old, were not due to age.* 



As a result of this examination, I venture to describe the single example 

 as a type of a new species in the following language : 

 CAROLLIA CASTANEA, n. sp. 



Smaller than C. brevicauda. Fur long and silky. 

 Above, lustrous light chestnut brown at basal one- 

 half and at the tip. The intervening portion is yellow 

 brown (old gold). Below, the same colors prevail, 

 excepting that over the abdomen and pubis the brown- 

 ish tip is absent and the body of the hair not golden . 

 There is no hair on the forearm (the parts are slightly 



*The teeth were all erupted, the epiphyses of the radii, metacarpals and phalanges 

 were united to their shafts, but the tibia was slightly flexible and the foot was covered by 

 a looser skin than is seen in matured individuals. It is not always easy to determine the 

 age of bats. 



