607 



SCIENTIFIC RESULTS FROM THE MAMMAL SURVEY. 



No. X. 



A. — The Indian Bats assigned to the genus Myotis. 



BY 



Oldfield Thomas. 



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



In connection with the naming of certain bats obtained during 

 the Bombay Survey by Messrs. Shortridge in Tenasserim, Crump in 

 N. India and Mayor in Ceylon, I have re-examined all the members 

 of the Myotis group, and made some preliminary notes on their 

 characters and nomenclature ; and these I now venture to publish, 

 imperfect as they are. Practically nothing had been done in this 

 direction since Uobson's Catalogue of 1878, as the publications of 

 Anderson and Blanford were so entirely based on that as hardly to 

 represent any material advance in knowledge. 



To begin with I would suggest that as a matter of convenience, 

 the sub- genus Leuconoe, containing the large-footed members of the 

 group, should be recognised as a full genus, thus dividing one of the 

 largest and most difficult genera of Bats. Not only is there a 

 difference in the size of the foot, but there are even differences in 

 habits between the groups, while the skull of Leuconoe has a more or 

 less characteristic shape, which shows that the group is a natural 

 one, difficult as it is to define. The best account of it is that in 

 Mr. Miller's synopsis | of the European species of Myotis, where the 

 characters of the three species of Leuconoe, dasycneme, capaccinii, and 

 daubentoni are placed in contrast with those of the ordinary mem- 

 bers of Myotis. 



I. — Myotis pkoper. 



Myotis myotis group. 



Of this group of large grey species, the Indian representative is 

 M. blythii. Tomes, of which the Museum contains the type ( skin 

 and skull) from Nusserabad (Boys), the type of Ves]}ertilio africanus, 

 Dobs, from unknown locality, and a male in spirit from Simla re- 

 cently presented by Mr. P. T. L. Dodsworth.* It is probable that 

 M. dobsoni, Trouess. (F. murinoides. Dobs.,) is also a synonym of 

 M. blythii. 



Myotis formosus group. 



Examples of the handsome M. formosus are in the Museum 

 from Nepal (Hodgson) (type) ; Mussoorie (Hutton) ; Dharmsala 



X Cat. Mamm. W. Europe, p. 168, 1912. 



* See Journ., Bombay N. H. Soc, 1914, p. 740. 



