Mr. I{. V. Tomes un new species of Ihits. 4 15 



miicli inflnted. I nniviMl nt (his conclusion, having l)ft'ore me the 

 jdute and the type specimens. 



1 cannot learn tlnit tliis species has been met with, excepting on 

 the continent of Enrope. Whilst many other Enroj)ean species 

 occur not only over the whole of" Europe, but also in Madeira, the 

 Mediterranean shores of Africa, and even as far in Africa as Lake 

 Nganii, the present one appears to be confined to France, Belgium, 

 Holland, and the environs of Rome. 



The following description has been taken from the specimens in the 

 Paris Mnseum : — 



Muzzle rather long, thick in a vertical direction, but not broad ; 

 top of the head very slightly elevated ; nostrils small, near together ; 

 ears of medium size, ovoid, with a distinct and regular notch near 

 the middle of their outer margins ; tragus narrow and ta])ering to 

 an acute point, which is directed outwards ; its outer margin has a 

 notch near the base. 



Wing-membranes extending to the base of the toes ; the latter 

 longer than the remaining j)art of the foot ; thumb with the free 

 portion much longer than that which is engaged in the membrane. 



The fur of the forehead, which is very thick, extends miinter- 

 ruptedly to halfway between the end of the nose and the eyes ; all 

 the side of the face from the root of the ear to the snout is naked, 

 with the exception of a tuft of stiff hairs in front of the eye and a 

 moustache on the upper lip. The ears are a little hairy at the base 

 of their hinder surface, and the fur of the back encroaches a little on 

 the interfemoral membrane. 



Everywhere the fur is very thick, soft, and cottony, with very 

 little gloss. That of the upper parts is tricoloured, and that of the 

 under surface bicoloured. 



On the top of the head and the whole of the back it is blackish 

 brown at the base for a fourth of its length, succeeded by yellowish 

 buff, and tipped with light rust-colour, the latter prevailing most on 

 the shoulders and on the interfemoral membrane. All the under 

 parts have the fur dusky at the base for half its length, the re- 

 mainder being pale buff, and it is so thick and close as to appear 

 wholly of the latter colour unless it be moved. 



Indinduals varj- considerably in the hue of the rust-coloured and 

 buff portions of the fur, so that their general appearance may be 

 either light reddish buff-colour, or a medium brown ; but in either 

 case the bicoloured and tricoloured character of the fur is maintained. 



The specimen of F. emaryinatus, which formed part of the Italian 

 collection of the late Prince C. L. 13onaparte, havuig been presented 

 by him to me during a stay in Paris in the spring of 185/, I am 

 enabled to correct an error into which I had fallen, with some other 

 zoologists, in regarding it as referable to V. Nattereri. It is un- 

 questionably the r. emaryinatiis of Geoffroy. This specimen, pre- 

 served as a skeleton, but a good deal injured, supplies the following 

 details respecting the dentition* : — 



Ia.2i?;Can.SiP--M-B;.M.S=iS. 



* It may not be amiss to record here the e.xact condition of the specimens of 



