274 



ON SOME BATS OBTAINED IN THE SUBAT AND THANA 

 DISTRICTS BY Mr. R. C. WROUGHTON. 



By Oldfield Thomas, British Museum. 



(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, 30th September, 1897.) 



Mr. R. C. Wroughton, Conservator of Forests, has recently sent to the 

 British Museum, through the Bombay Natural History Society, a small 

 collection of bats from the Surat and Thana districts, and although only 

 six species are represented, one of them is new, and I have therefore 

 thought it worth while to give a list of all the species sent. It may be 

 noted that these are the first bats received from India made up as proper 

 skins, with measurements and skulls, and are, therefore, proportionally 

 acceptable. I venture to hope that other British naturalists in India will 

 follow Mr. Wroughton's excellent example, for similar specimens from 

 all localities are much wanted. 



1. MEGADERMA LYRA, Geoff. 

 a— c. Kim, Surat. 22nd April, 1897. 



2. PIPISTRELLUS * ABRAMUS, Temm. 

 a—e. Pareli, Thana. 28th April and 1st May, 1897. 



3. PIPISTRELLUS DORMERI, Dobs. 



a. Mandvi, Surat. 10th April, 1897. 



About the proper allocation of this rare bat there has been much 

 difference of opinion, Dobson first forming a special genus — Scotozous 

 for its reception and afterwards considering the latter merely as a sub- 

 genus of " Vesperugo?' Blanford, in the " Mammals of India/' places 

 it in Nycticejus (i.e., Scotophilus). Both the foundation of Scotozous 

 and its reference to Nycticejus were due to its asserted possession of only 

 a single upper incisor on each side. But a careful examination of the two 



* The name Pipistrellus, used by Dobson in many of his earlier papers on Indian Bats, 

 but afterwards abandoned by him in favour of Vesperugo, proves to have a superior claim 

 to adoption over the latter, as it dates from 1829 (" Kaup, Entwick. Europ. Thiere," p. 98) , 

 while Vesperugo was only founded in 1839. 



