Mr. R. F. Tomes on the genus Miniopteris. 157 



coloured, sometimes having the tips of the hairs a little paler. In 

 M. Schreibersii it is bicoloured. The general colour is very dark 

 brown, varying slightly in its hue according to the locality from 

 which the examples have been obtained. Beneath it is bicoloured 

 in both species. In the present one it is dark brown at the base, 

 tipped with a paler tint of the same colour, which latter occupies the 

 whole length of the hairs on the pubal region. 



Examples from Japan have for the most part a rich umber tinge 

 in the colour of the fur ; in others from Amboyna a black-brown is 

 the prevailing colour, still however with a reddish tinge, whilst the 

 majority of those from Australia have the fur of a very deep brown 

 colour without such tinge. There is, however, a remarkable variety 

 sometimes met with in the latter country, which may be. thus men- 

 tioned : — The fur of the head and fore part of the back is of the 

 ordinary sombre colour, but that of the loins and rump is on the 

 contrary of a bright chestnut-brown, very silky and shining, and the 

 change from one colour to the other is not effected by a regular gra- 

 dation, but takes place almost abruptly, a wavy irregular line across 

 the loins markirig the confines of the two. But in one or two spe- 

 cimens which I have seen, the chestnut colour extends up the middle 

 of the back in a narrowish line, almost to the shoulders, and pro- 

 duces a very marked and beautiful variety *. In these specimens 

 the region of the pubes also is lighter in colour than in tlie ordi- 

 narily coloured individuals. 



I have not been able to examine examples of this species taken at 

 different periods of the year, so as to follow out the notes given by 

 M. Temminck of the seasonal changes in the colour of the fur. 



Some differences are observable in the crania of this and the last 

 species, which deserve mention. From the greater length of the 

 muzzle, as already noticed, it might be expected that the cranium 

 also would exhibit some corresponding elongation of its anterior 

 part, and accordingly that is seen to be the case. On comparing 

 the two skulls, that of M. Schreibersii, besides being altogether the 

 smaller one, has the facial portion more compressed immediately in 

 front of the orbits, and is less depressed. The posterior part of the 

 palate also is narrower, so that the zygomatic arches spring at once 

 outwards from the maxillary bones ; whilst in blepotis, where this 

 part of the skull is relatively broader, the zygoma ])asses off in a 

 backward direction, scarcely making an angle with the outer surface 

 of the maxillary bones. 



Another very apparent difference consists in the much greater 



* Somewhat the same style of colouring occurs in the Scotophilm Gouhlii, also 

 from Australia, and in some examples there is a slight tendency towards the same 

 peculiar division of the two colours. Scolojiliilus luberculalim also, from New Zea- 

 land, is very similarly coloured ; hut the gradation from the dark fore parts to the 

 more rufous hinder parts is very slight and uniform. 



Mr. Blyth has remarked of many of the Indian IJats, that they are suhject to 

 what he calls a rnfoiui phaae : perhaps this remark may he extended to the Au- 

 stralian e:iamplf;s of the present species, altliough why this should not equally 

 take place with those inhabiting the islands of the Indian Archipelago, is rather 

 difficult to decide. 



