Extinct Fruit- Bat from the Mascarenes. 22 i 



wliicli a member of tlie survey collected and transmitted to 

 me the specimens forming- the subject of this communication. 

 The material consists of a skull, the right and left femur, and 

 portion of the humerus, all of which can most certainly be 

 attributed to the same individual, and they clearly indicate a 

 very characteristic and hitherto unrecorded species of frugi- 

 vorous bat of the genus Pteropus, which has, however, 

 now ceased to exist on the island, neither does it occur on 

 any other of the Mascarene Islands. Associated with the 

 remains were also found the bones of tortoises, birds, and 

 introduced animals, the presence of these latter, which are 

 referable to the goat (^Capra hircus) and rabbit {Lepus 

 cuniculan), being of particular interest and affording reliable 

 data by which we may, with every degree of certainty, 

 assign the age of the deposit to a period succeeding the 

 advent of man in the island. Contemporary with Didus, 

 Pezophaps, and other members of the then existing fauna of 

 the Mascarenes, this bat must have long survived those 

 forms, lingering on until a comparatively recent period, the 

 state of preservation and general condition of the remains under 

 discussion strongly bearing out this hypothesis. In seeking- 

 tor a possible cause for its extinction it is perhaps, in this 

 case, more reasonable to assign the chief weight to those 

 changes in the conditions affecting a due and plentiful supply 

 of the soft fruits and berries so essential for tlie sustenance 

 of these voracious creatures, brought about by a series of dry 

 or tempestuous seasons unduly prolonged, as the means 

 of subsistence within the very restricted area of the island, 

 even under most favoured influences, must have been very 

 limited, rather than to the direct agency of man, which we 

 know lias been instrumental in bringing about the varied 

 physical transitions and concomitant changes in the endemic 

 ainmal life of the whole Mascarene group of islands as known 

 to us at the present day. 



For this interesting species I propose the name of 



Pteropus mascarinus, sp. u. 



Skull. — With moderately long but heavy muzzle, flattened 

 and scarcely concave frontal region. iSagittal crest weakly 

 developed, almost obsolete. 



Measurements. — A few of the measurements can only be 

 given approximately owing to the damaged condition of the 

 specimen : — 



Upper length (approximate) 49 nun.; coiid}lo-basal length 

 (approximate) 4G ; basilar length (approximate) 44; median 

 palate length 2b ; breadth between outer sides of canines 9*8, 

 inside canines 4-o ; outside p- 4 13-^^ inside p-jA 8 ; outside 



