1872.] CAPT. T. II UTTON ON HIMALAYAN BATS. 6^3 



The males are exceedingly filthy in their habits, voiding their 

 water over the body and head, and even imbibing a small quantity ; 

 hence the unpleasant odour. 



Mr. Blyth gives as the habitat : — " India generally ; Ceylon, 

 Maldives, Assam, Sylhet, Arracan, Pegu, Tenasserim, and Malayan 

 Peninsula (?)," to which may be added the Mahratta country, 

 Western and Northern India, thus exhibiting a very wide geogra- 

 phical range. 



Genus Cynopterus. 



Characters.— Head short and broad; lips thick on the sides; 

 tail short, nearly free ; frugivorous. 



2. Cynopterus marginatus. 



Vespertilio marginatus, B. Hamilton. 



Pteropus et Pachysomia titthcecheilus, Temni. 



Pachysoma brevicaudata, P. diardii et duvaucellii, F. Cuvier. 



Pteropns pyrivorus, Hodgson. 



Pteropus dussumieri (?), Royle's Catalogue. 



Cynopterus horsfieldii, C. affinis, Gray. 



Native name " Cham gidili," or " Chdm gidar," " Evening 

 Jackal." 



Hab. India generally ; Burmese and Malay countries ; Calcutta 

 and Nipal in the autumn months, to plunder the gardens of the 

 ripening fruits. 



Mr. Hodgson describes this species as being "wholly of an 

 earthy brown ; nude skin of lips, of joints, and of toes fleshy grey ; 

 tail very short, with its base enveloped in the interfemoral mem- 

 brane, and its tip free. Snout to rump 6 inches ; tail half an inch ; 

 expanse 2 feet ; weight 5 oz." 



In Nipal this Bat is a perfect pest, from the havoc it makes 

 among the ripe pears and guavas. Mr. Hodgson says they are only 

 seen in Nipal about midnight, when they come to feed from very 

 considerable distances. " In the plains it is noted of them that 

 they will travel from thirty to forty miles, and as many back, in the 

 course of a single night, in order to procure food." 



Although this statement seems almost incredible, yet it is never- 

 theless quite true ; and when the insatiable voracity of the animal is 

 taken into consideration, I can well imagine its often being compelled 

 to travel for long distances in search of food. One that Mr. Blyth 

 presented to me in Calcutta in 1849 appearea to be almost inces- 

 santly eating, resting only, even during the day, for a short interval 

 of sleep, and then recommencing upon ripe guavas as if it had not 

 seen food for a fortnight. 



Although I have never yet been able to procure a specimen from 

 Dehra, yet the gardeners assert that it is to be found there late at 

 night during the fruit-season along with the preceding species, and 

 that both leave the Doon before the morning. The most curious 

 part of the proceeding consists in the animal's discovery of fruit in 

 the valleys of Nipal and Dehra ! Range over the gardens of the 



