434 Mr. K. Andersen on Four 



Ni/ctalus, Bowdich. 



The original description runs as follows (T. Ed. Bowdich, 

 ^ Excursions in Madeira and Porto Santo during the Autumn 

 of 1823, while on his third voyage to Africa'; opus post- 

 humum, edited bj Mrs. Sara Bowdich, afterwards Sara Lee; 

 London, 1825; p. 36) : — 



" Here [in Madeira] I had an opportunity of remarking .... that the 

 bat is more than specifically distinct from all tliose which have, as yet, 

 been described, for it has four pointed incisors above (two by the side of 

 each canine, with a large interval between), and six small incisors below, 

 with three indentations in each. It forms a new sub-genus between 

 pJiaropus and cephalotes, and may be named, nyctalus verrucosus, [The 

 following as a footnote : — ] The lower canines have a heel. The muzzle 

 and oreUlettes are simple ; the ears are equal to the depth of the head in 

 length, and present clusters of orange warts on the outer part, and a few 

 within. It has a nail, and extra joint to the forefinger; three joints to 

 the middle finger, two to the others. The interfemoral membrane (not 

 notched, but triangular) reaches to within one Hue of tlie end of the tail, 

 which is within it : — width, from the tip of one wing to tlie other, llf in., 

 from the muzzle to the tip of the tail 4j in., colour, dusky brown." 



Palmer (Index Gen. Mamm. pp. 464:, 804 ; 1904) quotes 

 Bowdich's statement, " it forms a new subgenus between 

 pharopus [misprint for pteropusl and cephalotes/' and places 

 the genus in the family Pteropodidae. 



A closer examination of the description of Nyctalus verru- 

 cosus leads, however, to the following conclusions : — 



(1) Four of the characters given by Bowdich are evidence 

 that N. verrucosus is not a £ruit-bat, but a species of Micro- 

 chiroptera, viz. : — two upper incisors by the side of each 

 canine, with a large interval between {{. e. premaxillaries 

 broadly separated anteriorly) ; six incisors below (no fruit- 

 bat has more than four lower incisors) ; the presence of an 

 "oreillette" (tragus) ; tail included in interfemoral, which is 

 triangular, not notched. 



(2) The following characters are valueless for an identifi- 

 cation of the species: — "Clusters of orange warts" on the 

 outer and inner surface of the ear-conch (hence the name 

 verrucosus) ; these were evidently ticks. The meaning of 

 the words " it has a nail, and extra joint to the forefinger,'^ 

 is not clear ; the probable explanation is that " nail " applies 

 to the nail of the polles, the " extra joint to the forefinger'-' 

 to the strong phalanx-like tendon connecting the end of the 

 metacarpal of the second digit with the end of the first 

 phalanx of the third digit; but other interpretations are 

 possible. "Three joints" in the third digit, "two in the 

 others," because Bowdich counted the long terminal rod of 

 the third digit in Vespertilionid bats as a " phalanx," which 



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