ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHIROPTEKA, ETC. 181 



mities of the ischiatic bones, and are quite concealed between the two 

 layers of integument, divided from the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the 

 body, forming the base of the large interfemoral membrane. 



The single specimen, an adult male, is very peculiarly coloured, some- 

 what like the specimen of M. hjra, in the writer's collection previously 

 described.' As in it, the general colour of the fur, ears, nose-leaf, and 

 membranes is white, the base of the fur, upon the upper surface only, 

 being pale slate-blue, the colour so characteristic of the genus ; unlike the 

 other known species, the extremity of the carpus, the thumb, and the 

 membrane between the thumb and the second finger are clothed with 

 short hairs, in the type specimen of a white colour. 



The teeth scarcely difler in general form from those of M. spasma, but, 

 as in the Ethiopian species of this genus, there is no minute upper pre- 

 molar, and the dental formula therefore agrees with that of M. frons. 



The rudimentary premaxillne resemble more closely those of the Bhino- 

 lophidce than those of any other species of Megaderma. As in that family, 

 they project considerably beyond the line of the canines, from which they 

 are also separated by a diastema on either side, and two small depressions 

 in the gum may be seen, which appear to be the empty sockets of a pair 

 of rudimentary teeth, occupying precisely the same relative position as in 

 the species of Bhinolophidce, an additional indication of the close affinity of 

 the Nyderidce to that family. 



In the skull, as I have generally observed in the larger species of each 

 genus, the sagittal crest is well developed, and the pair of ridges into 

 which it divides in front are so strongly marked as to cause the frontal 

 bones between them to appear considerably hollowed. These ridges ter- 

 minate on each side in a blunt but well-marked post-orbital process, which, 

 however, as in M. spasma, is not perforated by a foramen. In this respect, 

 therefore, the skull agrees with that of M. spasma, which inhabits part of 

 the same zoological region, though apparently agreeing more closely with 

 M. frons and M. cor. in the flattened and expanded frontals, and in the 

 absence of a minute upper premolar : — 



Length (of an adult male) : head and body (inches) 5"-3, head l"-9, 

 nose-leaf 0"-6, ear 2"-2, tragus (anterior lobe 0"-45, posterior lobe 1"'0), 

 forearm 4"-2, thumb 0"-8, second finger (metacarpal 3"-3, phalanx 

 0"-6), third finger (metacarp. 2"7, 1st ph. l"-85, 2nd ph. 3"-6), 

 fourth finger (metacarp. 3"-l, 1st ph. l"-0, 2nd ph. 1 '-5), fifth finger 

 (metacarp. 3"-3, 1st ph. l"-25, 2nd ph. 1"1), tibia l"-7, calcaneum 

 1"-1, foot r'-i. 



Hab. Mount Margaret, Wilson's River, Central Queensland, Australia 

 (captured by Mr. Wilson). 



The single specimen from which the above description- was taken, was 

 sent by Dr. Schuette to the Gottingen Museum, accompanied by a note 

 from Mr. Kreff"t on the colour of the fur and membranes in the recently 

 killed animal. He describes the fur on the upper surface as leaden or 

 slate-coloured, with greyish extremities, beneath white ; the ears, nose-leaf, 

 and membranes flesh-coloured, with the exception of the band of integu- 

 ment uniting the ears in front, which is deep blood-red. 



This species, in comparison with the four other known species of the 



genus, is really gigantic in size, exceeding the largest, namely, ill. hjra, as 



much as the Noctule (Vespemgo noctula) exceeds the Pipistrelle {V.pipis- 



trettus). If its habits be similar to those of M. lyra (see my Monograph 



' Catal. Cidropt. Brit. Mus. p. 157. 



