44 j\Ir. K. Ainlerscn oi the Bats of the 



Nomenclature. 



Rhino/ophus Coinmcrsoni ; 1813*. — Described from Com- 

 nicrsion's drawings and hand-written notes ; type locality : 

 Fort Danphin, Madagascar ; description very incomplete, 

 drawing bad : no lateral leaflets, no frontal sac ; but there 

 can be no doubt as to the identification. 



Rhinolophus yiyas \ 1845 f. — The brief preliminary dia- 

 gnosis (1845) must be compared witli the detailed description 

 three years later (1848). Type locality: Benguela. This, 

 condjined with the size of the skull (37 mm.), the length of 

 the forearm (107 mm. ; AVagncr probably measured the 

 radius), the shape of the ears (" hoch, sclimal, liingliehoval, 

 zngespitzt^^), the furrows on the canines, and the colour, 

 settles the matter. The number of " Backenzjiline " is stated 

 to be 4 (the small jy^ overlooked), the number of lateral 

 leaflets 3 (probably from a skin). The frontal sac, so 

 conspicuous in all bats of the Commersoni type, is not men- 

 tioned ; that this is an accidental omission is proved by 

 reference to Wagner's article on yifjas in Schreber's ' Siiug- 

 thiere ' (Suppl. v. p. 651, 1855). — This is the earliest name 

 of the largest species of the Commersoni type. 



Phyllorhina vittata \ 1852 J. — Peters had two distinct 

 species of the Commersoni type before him when describing 

 Ph. vittata. The first question therefore is which of these 

 two species is the true type of vittata. The whole of the 

 detailed description, the size as indicated in the brief 

 " diagnosis '^ (p. 32), the whole series of measurements of 

 the first of the two specimens (the male, pp. 35-36 §), and 



< 



* Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, " Sur un genre de Chauve-souris, sous le nora 

 de lihinolvphes,^'' Ann. Mus. d'llist. nat. xx. p. 2(33, pi. v. (head in front 

 view). 



t Job. Andr. Wagner, " Diagnosen einiger neuen Arten ron Nagern 

 iind llandfliiglern,'' Arch. f. Naturg. xi. 1, p. 148; id. " Beschreibung 

 einiger kleiuen Saugthiere aus Syrien und Afrika," op. cit. xiv. 1, pp. 180- 

 182 '(1848). 



:t: AV. Peters, ' Isaturwissenschaftliche Reise nach Mossanibique,' 

 Siiugeth. pp. .Sl'-.36, pi. vi. (whole figure, head in front view, ear), pi. xiii. 

 figs. 7-13 (skull, osteology of lower leg and foot). — (Peters refers to an 

 earlier " Mittheilung " about Ph. vittata in the ' Gesellscbaft natur- 

 forscbender Freunde,' Aug. 21, 1849; to my knowledge no Proceedings 

 of that Society were issued between 1839 and 1860, but reports on the 

 meetings are said to have appeared in the ' Berliner Vossische Zeitung.') 



§ Peters measures the forearm (probably the radius) of this specimen 

 lOo mm. ; taken on the life-size figure (pi. vi.) the forearm is, according 

 to my method, very nearly 110 mm., thus precisely as in (jifias. The 

 tibia is stated to be 40 mm., a measurement evidently taken on the 

 skeleton, inasmuch as it agrees exactly with the length of the tibia in the 

 osteological figure, pi. xiii. fig. 13 ; on the figure pi. vi. the lower leg is at 



