CHEIROMELES TORQUATUS. 



I have designed for the present article one of the subjects which have been 

 added to the Museum of the Honourable East India Company, by the researches of 

 Dr. George Finlayson. The various Vespertilionidee enumerated in the journals 

 which were kept by this meritorious Naturalist, during the mission of John Crawfurd, 

 Esq. to Siam, Cochin-China, and the Indian Archipelago, were collected in Penang 

 and Singapore. The chief notices concerning them relate to the places where they 

 were discovered, as the examination was deferred to a period of rest and leisure. 

 Since the lamented decease of Dr. Finlayson, a hberal provision has been made by 

 the Honourable Court of Directors, for arranging and exposing to view his collections; 

 and I trust that the description of the new and interesting subjects will prove the 

 zeal and industry of the collector. As a native of the Indian Archipelago, the 

 Cheiromeles torquatus belongs with propriety to the hmits of these Researches. 



In its physiognomy our animal bears considerable resemblance to Molossus, and, 

 on first view, it was considered as a species of this genus; but a more careful 

 examination soon brought to light its peculiar characters. The singular structure of 

 the foot, or rather of the podarium, according to lUiger's language, which in the 

 posterior members has the character and properties of a hand, has suggested the name 

 of Cheiromeles, from x"? manus, and /AEXor membrum. 



The entire length of the specimen of the Cheiromeles torquatus which is 

 now before me, is five inches and one half. The extent of the wings is nearly two 

 feet. The head is long, somewhat cylindrical in its posterior portion, very shghtly 

 rounded above, and terminated by a long conical muzzle, the extremity of which 

 projects nearly half an inch beyond the lower jaw. The summit of the skuU is 

 marked in the middle with a distinct prominent longitudinal ridge, and the rostrum 

 has throughout its entire length a deep groove, which forms at the extremity a small 

 notch between the nostrils. The nose consists of two tubes, of considerable length, 

 and somewhat muscular, at the end of which the nostrils are placed. These are simple, 

 orbicular and tumid, and the external aperture is directed forward. The upper hps 

 are simple, fleshy, thick, almost naked, and bordered with delicate and somewhat 

 rigid hairs. The lower jaw is broad and obtuse at its termination. The rostrum is 

 marked above, on each side, with three small fascicles of short, stiff bristles, conical 

 and glandular at the base, rigid and spinous at the point. They are arranged 

 successively, in opposite pairs, at the extremity, in the middle, and near the base of 

 the ears ; a similar fascicle of bristles, Avith glandular bases, is situated on each side 

 of the lower jaw, near its extremity. The ears have comparatively a posterior 



