368 MR. G. E. DOBSON ON THE GENUS scoropHiLus. [May 4, 
From the paper above referred to, the definition of the Colum- 
bine, containing the genus Columba, may be thus stated :— 
CotumBin#&. Columbide possessing an ambiens muscle, intestinal 
ceeca, an oil-gland, 12 rectrices, and no gall-bladder. 
Whereas Carpophaga possesses the ambiens muscle, an oil-gland, a 
gall-bladder, and no intestinal czeca. 
In Ianthenas leucolema the ambiens muscle and the oil-gland are 
present, as are the intestinal ceeca*. The gall-bladder is absent. This 
bird must therefore, together with Columba, Turtur, Macropygia, 
and Ectopistes, be placed in the Columbine and not in the 
Carpophagine division. The intestines are 47 inches in length, of 
average diameter; and the gizzard is typical in structure, having 
simple plicated pads. 
Erythrenas pulcherrima.—This species is truly Ptilonopine in all 
its characters. Asin Ptilonopus, the ambiens muscle is wanting, as 
are the czeca to the intestine. The gall-bladder is present ; and the 
oil-gland is very small. The gizzard presents the peculiarities of that 
genus, although the four pads are not so regularly constructed, minor 
plications existing. There are 14 rectrices ; and the intestines (which 
are capacious, as in all fruit-eating birds) are 16 inches in length. 
4. On the Genus Scotophilus, with Description of a new 
Genus and Species allied thereto. By G. E. Dosson, 
B.A., M.B., F.L.S. 
[Received April 17, 1875.] — 
In 1820 the genus Scotophilus was founded by Dr. W. E. 
Leach + on a single immature specimen of a Bat which belongs pro- 
bably to the species now generally known as Nycticejus temminchii, 
Horsf.t That specimen was also made by Dr. Leach the type of 
his Scotophilus kuhlit ; and this name would take precedence of Hors- 
field’s if it were possible to determine decisively the adult form from 
an examination of the immature animal. 
The specimen in question (which is preserved in alcohol in the 
British Museum) still retains the deciduous milk-teeth, which, in 
the case of the upper incisors, are two in excess of those found in all 
adult individuals belouging to this genus. It would therefore be 
quite impossible also to distinguish the genus as defined by Leach 
from Keyserling and Blasius’s subgenus Vesperus §. 
The question therefore arises, whether this genus, so very im- 
perfectly defined, and founded on a specimen of an animal so im- 
mature that the species to which it belongs cannot be determined, 
should not be rejected altogether. 
* These are extremely slender, and require special precautions to be taken 
for their demonstration. 
t Trans. Linn. Soc. 1822, xiii. p. 71. 
+ Horsfield, ‘Zoological Researches in Java,’ 1825. 
§ Vesperus, subgenus of Vesperugo, Keys. & Blas. (Wiegmann’s Archiv, 1839, 
p. 312). 
