96 MR. E. R. ALSTON ON A NEW PTEROPDS. [Jail. 20, 



4. On a new Species of Pteropus from Samoa. 



By Edward R. Alston, F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived December 4, 1873.] 



(Plate XIV.) 



The Rev. Cation Tristram has kindly sent me for examination a 

 small collection of Bats, which has been forwarded to him from 

 Samoa by the Rev. S. J. Whitmee. It consists of four specimens 

 preserved in spirits — one of Emballonura semicaudatal(Pen\e)*, 

 two young examples of a Pteropus, apparently referable to P.fla- 

 vicollis, Grayt, and an adult male Fruit-Bat of a distinct species. 

 After a careful investigation I believe this last to be an undescribed 

 form, and have much pleasure in naming it (at Canon Tristram's 

 suggestion) in honour of Mr. Whitmee, who has devoted much 

 attention to the elucidation of the Samoan fauna. 



Pteropus whitmeei, sp. n. (PI. XIV.) 



Face and cheeks dark grey, grizzled with yellowish hairs ; crown of 

 the head and occiput pale yellow ; nape, sides of neck, and shoulders 

 bright golden bay ; back between the wings rich brown-black, rump 

 slightly washed with rufous ; chin black ; lower surface of the body 

 grizzled rufous, the shorter fur being brown and the longer hairs 

 reddish yellow ; limbs and flying-membrane dark brown; arms and 

 thighs thinly clad both above and below with long hairs. Measure- 

 ments : — j n 



Length of head 2-15 



„ ear *85 



„ forearm 4*45 



„ thumb 1*45 



„ first finger 3' 15 



,, second finger 7*35 



„ third finger 6*05 



„ fourth finger 5"45 



Of the described species of Fruit-Bat, this is most nearly allied to 

 P. vitiensis, Gray J, from the Feejees, of which it may probably be 

 regarded as the Samoan representative ; but it is at once distin- 

 guished from that species by its black back, by the totally different 

 shade of the bay of the nape, and by the absence of the conspicuous 

 yellow border across the shoulders. The present specimen is also 

 considerably smaller than the type of P. vitiensis in the British 

 Museum, and the first upper premolar is markedly larger. P. 

 samoensis, Peale§, is a much larger animal, and has the back uniform 

 in colour with the lower parts. 



* Vespertilio semicaudatus, Peale, Zool. U.S. Expl. Exp. (1848), p. 23; Em- 

 ballonura fuliginosa, Tomes, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 77 (cf. Peters, Monatsb. Akad. 

 Berlin, 1867, p. 480). 



t Catalogue of Monkeys, Lemurs, and Fruit-Bats (1870), p. 107. 



X Cat. Monkeys, &c. p. 109. § Zool. U. S. Expl. Exp. p. 20. 



