18/2.] CAPT.T. HUTTON ON HIMALAYAN BATS. 695 



in all my specimens are precisely similar to those sketched by Cassell 

 as pertaining to R. luctus ; and they are in no degree more com- 

 plicated than those of any other species of the genus. In dried 

 skins, no doubt, they appear to be complicated enough ; and it is 

 often impossible to say what they may have been like in the living 

 subject ; but as I invariably work with living or freshly killed speci- 

 mens, I find no difficulty at all. Of R. luctus, Gray says, " Black, 

 with a slight ashy tinge ;" and of R. perniger, Hodgson observes, 

 " Fur longish, very soft, lax, and slightly curled ; colour uniform 

 black, embrowned on the nude cutaneous parts, slightly tipped with 

 silver on the back." Temminck'sii. luctus is " black, tipped hoary 

 on the back ;" and precisely so are all the specimens, some fifty in 

 number, that I have procured at Mussooree and in the Dehra Doon. 

 All things considered, then, there does not appear to be a shade of 

 difference between the two ; and consequently I retain the name 

 bestowed upon it by Temminck, the inapplicability of Mr. Hodgson's 

 name being shown in the fact that the animal is " tipped with silver 

 on the back," with " nude cutaneous parts embrowned !" To its being 

 black throughout, as the name perniger implies, this is somewhat 

 of a contradiction ! 



This fine species commences its flight rather early in the evening, 

 and does not soar high, like the smaller bats in general, but remains 

 below at about twenty to thirty feet from the ground, wheeling with 

 a somewhat heavy and noiseless flight around buildings and large 

 trees in search of small beetles and other insects. Indeed I think 

 it may be truly said of all the larger species of Bats that they hawk 

 for prey in the lower regions of the atmosphere, while nearly all the 

 smaller ones ascend ; and the reason is, that while the flies and 

 minute insects are in the higher regions, the large beetles and other 

 large insects, of which the smaller Bats could make no use, are 

 found below among the branches of the trees. 



This species appears usually to dwell in pairs, and does not 

 associate in communities like some of the smaller Rhinolophi — 

 though in a large cavern, affording ample room for them to hang 

 apart, several pairs may sometimes be found. I have taken them 

 from the roofs of outhouses, and in wide caves in limestone rocks ; 

 but they appear to fly only during the warmer months of summer, 

 remaining (at least such is the case at Mussooree) in a semitorpid 

 state during the winter. It is possible, however, that in the warmer 

 south-eastern climates of Sikkim and the Cossiah hills they mav be 

 active likewise in the winter. 



The animal is black all over, membranes and all, with a sprinkling 

 of hoary ash on the back ; when any parts are embrowned it is 

 owing to the dryness of the dead specimen, and is not natural to the 

 living animal. 



cJ . Carpus 3 inches; expanse of wings 18| in.; ears 1| in. 

 Fur long, soft, dense, and slightly frizzled or curly. Facial "crest 

 well developed and of the ordinary type. This was a male ; but a 

 female taken in June at Dehra agrees more nearly with Mr. Hodg- 

 son's description, which was likewise taken from a female. Carpus 



