i 4 6 THE INDIAN FAUNA 



on objects over which it runs. In colour it is generally a bluish grey, paler 

 below than above, but there is considerable variation in the tint. Analogous 

 variations occur in the brown musk-shrew, which probably inhabits the whole 

 Indian area, as it does the Himalaya from Kashmir to Assam up to quite 8000 ft. 

 insectivorous Among the insect-eating bats, Kuhl's bat (Scotophilus kuhli) 



Bats. j s abundant throughout India, and also ranges to Borneo and the 

 Philippines. The upper-parts of this bat are generally yellowish brown, but vary 

 between vivid chestnut, golden brown, and greyish brown, the lower-parts being 

 yellow or dull white. In length it is about 3 inches, the tail measuring about 

 2 inches. In flight it is easy and slow, and it lives singly or in pairs, or in small or 

 large parties, in verandas, temples, and other buildings, and also in the holes of 

 trees, its food being chiefly white ants or termites. 



Six kinds of tube-nosed bats {Harpy iocephalus), recognisable by their tubular 

 nostrils and the hairy membrane between the hind-legs, are indigenous to the 

 Himalaya and Tibet. The genus is nearly allied to Myotis — represented in northern 

 India only by the wall-bat (M. rnuricola). A remarkable Indian species of another 

 genus is the painted bat (Cerivoula picta), which is widely spread over India, 

 Ceylon, and Burma, although rare in the drier districts of these countries. It is 

 small in size, the length without the tail being about 1+ inches. In colour it is a 

 deep orange, or bright rusty red above, but lighter and yellower below, the 

 membranes being orange and black. In the daytime this species more resembles 

 a large butterfly than a bat, but is remarkably like dead leaves when at rest, and 

 is thus well protected by its colouring. As it is often found on plantain-trees, it is 

 known in Ceylon as kehel vulha, or plantain-bat, and this is probably the origin of 

 its generic name. One of the wrinkled-lipped bats {Nyctinomus plicatus) occurs 

 in India and south-eastern Asia generally, but neither in Ceylon nor the Himalaya. 

 This bat is furnished with long narrow wings, and has a length of 2|- inches, with 

 a tail-length of 1£ inches. In colour it is brownish black, or greyish brown above, 

 and is sometimes of the same hue below, although generally lighter. Another 

 family is represented by the Indian false-vampire (Megaderma lyra), a large-eared 

 species of about 3£ inches in length, of a dark ashy or slate-grey colour above, and 

 lighter below. This bat belongs to a group characterised by the long snout, large 

 wings, and the absence of a tail, and deserves attention on account of its food. It 

 is spread over India from Kashmir to Ceylon, and from Karachi to Calcutta, and is 

 also found in China, but not as yet in Burma. It sleeps in caves, old buildings, 

 and under roofs during the day, and lives partly on insects, but principally on 

 small vertebrates, the blood of which it sucks. Strange to say, males of this species 

 seem much more numerous than females. There are many other Indian forms of 

 insect-eating bats — among them several kinds of tomb-bats (Taphozous) — but 

 these need not be mentioned in detail on this occasion. 



The group of fruit-bats, the majority of which are of large bodily 

 size, are, as their name implies, fruit-eaters ; and the crowns of their 

 cheek-teeth, instead of bearing sharp cusps, are, as a rule, marked only by a simple 

 longitudinal groove. Moreover, the outer and inner margins of their ear-conchs 

 are joined so as to form a more or less oval ring at the base, instead of, as in most 

 insectivorous bats, rising from the head independently of each other. All the 



