74 Miscellaneous. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



A long-tongued Pter opine Bat from West Africa. 

 By Dr. H. A. Pagensiechee, 



Megaloglossus Wcermanni, nov. gen. et spec. 



Long-tongued fruit-eating Bats have not hitherto been found 

 further west than the Himalayas. Our Museum (Hamburg) has 

 just received one through M. Soyaux, from Lsibange-Fann in 

 Gaboon. This great change in our zoogeographical experience justi- 

 fies a preliminary communication. 



Our animal belongs to Dobson's second groiip of the Macroglossi : 

 — " Second finger with a distinct claw ; iatermaxillary bones united 

 in front." It has the full dentition with |-|-| + 3^ on each side. 

 If Melonycteris had not been separated from Maeroglossus the pre- 

 sent species might also have been left in Maeroglossus. In size and 

 in some of its characters it is intermediate between these two 

 genera ; but in other points it departs more from Maeroglossus than 

 Melonycteris. The tail, wanting in Melonycteris, has here two 

 vertebrae more than in Maeroglossus. The membrane on the foot, ori- 

 ginating in Maeroglossus from the fourth toe and in Melonycteris from 

 the third, originates here with narrow bands from the third and 

 second. The muzzle is still simpler than in either genus ; the 

 second premolar, both above and below, projects beyond the others ; 

 two posterior palatal folds are divided, as in Melonycteris, while 

 they are not so in Maeroglossus. As the tongue is as long as in the 

 much larger Melonycteris melanops, Dobs, (alboscapulatiis, Eamsay), 

 and at the same time broad, I propose the generic name of Megalo- 

 glossus. 



The species is dark brown, rather lighter on the body ; total 

 length from the muzzle to the interfemoral membrane 80, of the 

 forearm 45, of the third finger 80 millim. 



The species will be fully described and figured in the supplement 

 to the Annual Eeport on the Museum for 1885. — Zool. Anzeiger, 

 April 27, 1885, no. 193, p. 245. 



On the Mode of Developiment of Cantharis vesicatoria. 

 By M. H. Beatjkegaed. 



After three years of investigations I have the satisfaction of being 

 able to present to the Academy the solution of a question which has 

 hitherto remained a mystery. It has been attempted in vain to 

 ascertain where Cantharis vesicatoria was developed, and whence 

 came those dense masses of insects which annually settle upon the 

 ash trees and completely strip them of their leaves. 



When, in the course of the investigation that I have undertaken 

 upon the tribe Vesicantia, I came to the question of the develop- 

 ment of the Cantharis, M. Lichtenstein, of Montpellier, had succeeded 

 by artificial rearing in demonstrating that the Cantharis passes 

 through the various stages of hypermetamorphosis, and that its larvae 

 live upon honey. As he had only published very succinct descrip- 

 tions, unaccompanied by figures, of the various states of the insect, I 



