1872.] CAPT. T. HUTTON ON HIMALAYAN RATS. 70.5 



Length from the nose to insertion of tail 2^ in. ; tail 2g in. ; 

 total length 4§in. ; ear l^in. ; tragus fin. ; carpus 1| in.; tibia fin. 

 The tip of the tail obtuse, and exserted beyond the edge of the 

 membrane about g in. Fur brownish-grey above, rather paler be- 

 neath. Female. 



My specimen is a female, and was received from the central region 

 of the hills through the kindness of Mr. F. Wilson, and, with the 

 exception of some of the dimensions, as given by Bell in his ' British 

 Quadrupeds,' is, I think, undistinguishable from the English species. 



Bell's description, indeed, is precisely that which 1 should have 

 given of the Himalayan specimen ; for the trifling differences in the 

 dimensions may be due to age, or sex, or even to the condition of the 

 specimens when measured. Mine was preserved in spirits of wine, 

 while probably Bell described from a dried skin, which would be 

 quite sufficient to account for most of the differences. One thing he 

 has omitted to mention, although he indicates it in the figure of the 

 head at page 57 — namely, that proceeding from the nostrils, and 

 running back to the base of the muzzle, is a narrow open groove. 



This little Bat, so remarkable for the great length of the ears in pro- 

 portion to the size of the body and head, is found during the summer 

 months far in the interior of the mountains in the northern portion 

 of the central region. It does not occur at Mussooree, nor in the 

 immediate neighbourhood. 



Bell says of P. auritus : — " The inner margin of the ear is bent 

 back from the middle cartilage, forming a broad longitudinal fold, 

 which is ciliated at its edge, as well as along the carina formed by its 

 duplicature" *. 



In the 16th volume of the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal ' Mr. Hodgson has described a species under the name of P. 

 homochrous, from the central region, but which Mr. Blyth has placed 

 as a synonym of P. auritus, which I also should have been inclined 

 to do, had not Mr. Hodgson distinctly stated that the " ears were 

 disunited" at the base, in which case it can be neither P. auritus 

 nor a true member of the genus. It is stated likewise that the ears 

 are nude, as in mine, which possibly might have had some weight 

 in identifying it with my species, but for the disunion of the ears. 

 The same naturalist notices a species as P. dargilingensis, which 

 Blyth, rightly or wrongly I know not, also doubles up with P. au- 

 ritus. Hodgson assigns a different dentition from the P. auritus, 

 making the molars —^ instead of jpg, as Bell gives them ; from 



which facts it is clear that Hodgson's Bat must belong to a different 

 genus. P. auritus is found also in the Simla hills. 



We now come to the genus Scotophilus, which, as at present de- 

 fined by Mr. Gray, is altogether unsatisfactory. That gentleman 

 says : — " I am inclined to confine the genus Scotophilus to those 

 species which have the wings attached to the ankles as far as the base 

 of the toes, — as Scot, temminckii and Scot, fulvus of Asia, which have 



* This description applies equally well to my specimen also, in which the 

 back of the ear is perfectly nude. 



Paoc. Zool. Soc— 1872, No. XLV. 



