P TEROPODID& 65 1 



circumstances that the wattles of male gallinaceous birds swell up, 

 namely, when engaged in courting the females. Other remarkable 

 conditions in which these Bats appear to differ from all other species 

 occur in the form of the hyoid bones and larynx. These Bats 

 appear to live principally on figs, the juicy contents of which 

 their large lips and capacious mouths enable them to swallow 

 without loss. 



Pteropus. 1 Dentition : i f , c -f , p f , m -j ; total 34. This 

 genus has more than forty species, and thus includes more than 

 half the members of the family. All are of large size, and the 

 absence of a tail, the long pointed 

 muzzle (Fig. 301), and the woolly 

 fur covering the neck render 

 their recognition easy. They 

 are commonly known as "Flying 

 Foxes," or Fox-Bats ; and one 

 of the species (P. edulis) in- 

 habiting Java measures 5 feet 

 across the fully extended wings, 

 and is thus the largest known 

 species of the order. All the 

 species closely resemble one 

 another in dentition, and are Fl - soi.-Head of Fox-Bat (Ptewpus penonatus). 



. , , . , . . , 7 i From Gray. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1866. 



mainly distinguished by the 



form of the ears and the quality of the fur. P. scapulatus, from 

 North -East Australia, approaches the species of the second sub- 

 family in the remarkable narrowness of its molars and premolars. 



The range of this genus extends from Madagascar and the 

 neighbouring islands through the Seychelles to India, Ceylon, 

 Burma, the Malay Archipelago, Southern Japan, New Guinea, 

 Australia, and Polynesia (except the Sandwich Islands, Ellice's 

 Group, Gilbert's Group, Tokelau, and the Low Archipelago). Of 

 the islands inhabited by it some are very small and remote from 

 any continent, such as Savage Island in the South Pacific and 

 Rodriguez in the Indian Ocean. Although two species inhabit the 

 Comoro Islands, which are scarcely 200 miles from the African 

 coast, not a single species is found in Africa; but in India, 

 separated by thousands of miles of almost unbroken ocean, a 

 species exceedingly closely allied to the common Madagascar 

 Fox-Bat is abundant. The Malay Archipelago and Australia are 

 their headquarters ; and in some places they occur in countless 

 multitudes. Mr. Macgillivray remarks of P. conspicillatus : " On 

 the wooded slope of a hill on Fitzroy Island I one day fell in with 

 this Bat in prodigious numbers, looking while flying in the bright 

 sunshine (so unusual for a nocturnal animal) like a large flock of 

 1 Geofiroy, Ann. du Museum, vol. xv. p. 90 (1810). Ex. Brisson. 



