36 Mr. W. E. t]e Win ton on Bats of the 



very sharp set of teeth, a very curious sparkling eye, a long 

 extended mouth, a monstrous high Fin on its back, being of a 

 slimy substance, only the Ribs which stretched it out (being 

 thirty-two in number) were firm and stiff. He had one small 

 fin under his jaw, of the same slimy substance. That part 

 of him which is without small s})ots, is a perfect green Jelly, 

 whence he was called by us a Jelhj-fish. The rest of him 

 was firm, of a Silver colour, with small spots, and streaks or 

 partings, as is exprest in the Figure." 



The figure itself, rude as it is, as might be expected from a 

 mariner of that time, leaves no doubt as to the nature of the 

 fish. Whether it was drawn from the specimen at the time 

 of its capture, or at a later period from recollection, is matter 

 of conjecture. It is evident that Funnell, when the Dutch 

 authorities at Amboyna took possession of all the private 

 effects of the ship's company, found means to preserve the 

 notes which he had made during the voyage, and without 

 which he would not have been able to write the account pub- 

 lished after his return to England. They probably included 

 a sketch of the fish, but it seems to me that the description 

 was drawn up at a later period, from the sketch and from 

 memory. Both figure and description are much too in- 

 accurate to draw from them any conclusion as to the species 

 to which Funnell's specimen belonged. This, however, is 

 immaterial; Goode and Bean (Ocean. Ichth. p. 117) express 

 themselves as not thoroughly satisfied that more than one 

 species has been found in the Atlantic. 



V. — Notes on Bats of the Genus Nyctinomus/bwnc? zn 

 Africa, etc. By W. E. DE WiNTON. 



The working out of the species of Nyctinomus in connexion 

 with Dr. Anderson's 'Fauna of Egypt' has necessitated 

 looking through the whole of the specimens of this genus 

 contained in the collection of the British Museum. In 

 several instances the determination arrived at by Dobson in 

 his ' Catalogue of the Chiroptera ' has been found to require 

 amendment, and the examination of the skulls has brought 

 out additional facts of importance. This communication is 

 confined only to those species, found principally on ihecoutinent 

 of Africa and the island of Madagascar, which have the ears 

 joined or rising close together from tlie centre line of the 

 face, and does not deal with that section of the geims with 



