262 PTEROPODID.I. 



met with and appears to be of local distribution. It extends on 

 the west to the Persian Gulf, where I obtained specimens, on the 

 east and south-east throughout the Malay Archipelago to the 

 Philippines and Timor. 



Habits. This is, in many cases at all events, a cave-haunting 

 bat. I shot several in the large salt-caves of Kishm Island, Persian 

 Gulf, where it abounded, and Mr. Murray found it in old tombs 

 and in caves near Karachi. An allied species, X. miyptiaca, inhabits 

 the chambers of the Pyramids and has been found in a cave in 

 Palestine. 



Like the other fruit-bats, this animal is very voracious and 

 possesses great powers of flight. According to Hodgson, it has 

 been kno^^■n to travel 30 or 40 miles and to return in a single night. 

 Scully has shown that bats of this species, visiting the Xepal 

 Valley, probably come from the Nowakot district, only 16 miles 

 distant, not from the plains, as Hodgson su])posed. Dobson was 

 informed tliat near Moulmein a colony of X ample.ricaudata was 

 found to feed on moUusca left exposed by the tide. 



Genus CYNOPTERUS, F. Cuv. (1825). 



Syn. Pachysoma, Geoifr. (1828). 



Muzzle much shorter and blunter than in Pterojnis or XantJiar- 

 pyia ; nostrils projecting by their inner margins, between which 

 is a broad farrow. A shallow vertical groove crosses tlie 

 middle of the upper lip and has broad naked margins. Index 

 finger with a distinct claw ; metacarpal bone of the middle finger 

 as long as the index finger or longer ; wings from the sides of the 

 hairy back and from the base of the first toe. 



Dentition in all Indian forms : i. j, c. ~^, pm. ^, m. ^. 



This genus is found throughout the Oriental region. 



Synopsis of Indian, Ceylonese, and Burmese Species. 



A. Tail present. 



a. Base of outer margin of ear-conch straight 



or faintly convex. 

 a' . Ears nearly double the length of the 



muzzle and margined with white .... C. marginatus, p. 263. 

 h' . Ears not much longer than muzzle and 



witli white borders C. hrachyotus, p. 264. 



c'. Ears not much longer than muzzle, 



without white border . : C. scher~eri, p. 264. 



b. Base of outer margin of ear-conch forming 



a distinct rounded projection C hrachysoma, p. 264. 



B. No tail C. hhuifvrdi, p. 265. 



