87 



ON A REMARKABLE NEW FREE-TAILED BAT FROM 

 SOUTHERN BOMBAY. 



BY 



Oldfield Thomas. 

 With a Plate. 



(Published by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.') 



Among the numerous mammals recently obtained by the col- 

 lectors employed by the Bombay Natural History Society, there 

 occur three specimens of a most remarkable and conspicuous new 

 Free-tailed bat, which Mr. Wroughton has been good enough to 

 refer to me for description. 



The specimens were obtained hj Mr, S. H. Prater, assistant 

 in the Society's Museum, in a large cave near Talewadi, about 25 

 miles north of Castle Rock, on the Ghats between Belgaum and 

 Goa. The cave contained large numbers of bats, most of which 

 proved to be Megaderms, but among them were three specimens 

 of the species here described. 



I propose to call it : — 



Nyctinomus wroughtoni, sp. n. 



A large dark-coloured Nyctinomus, with large ears and a con- 

 spicuous patch of whitish across the shoulders. 



Size very large, the forearm slightly exceeding in length that 

 of the largest previously known species, N. martiensseni, Matschie. 

 Fur fine and velvety, hairs of back aboiit 3*5 mm. in length ; 

 mostly limited to the trunk, but there is a patch of fur on the 

 anterior external base of the ears, a line of fur along the upper 

 and under sides of the forearm, a patch on the membrane between 

 the base of the fifth metacarpal and the forearm, and the base of 

 the interfemoral is hairy ; beneath, the fur of the body extends 

 outwards as far as a line joining the elbow and knee. General 

 colour above dark rich chocolate brown, with a strongly contrasted 

 greyish drabby-white mantle across the shoulders, the back behind 

 it also mixed with whitish. Under surface duller brown, the 

 lower side of neck greyish ; fur on under side of wing membrane 

 lighter than that of the body. Top of head dark glossy brown, 

 but minute patches of white present on the dorsal side of the 

 inner bases of the ears. Ears very large, oval, rounded, connected 

 with each other at their inner base, inner margin convex, dotted 

 with a dozen or more small horny points, tip broadly rounded, 

 outer margin flattened above, evenly convex below ; no antitragus 

 present, but the extra lobe on the inner side of the conch, opposite 

 to the tragus, unusually well developed. Tragus practically 



