PTEROPUS JAVANICUS. 



tails and marginated ears. In the latter, I have found in the specimens from Java, 

 indications of a new species ; and my inquiries have convinced me that many other 

 species still remain to be added to this genus. One of these, which is a native of 

 Bengal, was lately communicated to me by Joseph Sabine, Esq. ; it is a large 

 animal, and belongs to the first subdivision : it agrees with most of the species 

 akeady known, in having a brown collar ; but it possesses distinct characters in the 

 peculiar distribution of this coUar, and in the shortness and form of its muzzle. 



The Pteropus javanicus is the largest species of the genus hitherto discovered : 

 in adult subjects, the extent of the expanded wings is full five feet, and the length of 

 the body one foot. In the specimen which I have placed before me in this descrip- 

 tion, the extent of the wings was five feet and two inches. The smallest specimen 

 in the Museum has an expansion of three feet and ten inches across the wings : all 

 the other specimens measure nearly five feet. The length of the arm and forearm 

 together, from the union with the body to the origin of the phalanges, is fourteen 

 inches ; the latter are distributed as in other species of Pteropus. The naked thumb 

 projecting beyond the membrane, measures two inches ; and the claw, which is strong 

 and sharp, has an extent of nearly one inch along its curvature. On the index the 

 claw is minute, and by the particular inflexion of the phalanges, which was first 

 pointed out by M. Geoffroy, and which is carefully represented on the Plate, it 

 obtains a direction opposed to the plane of the membrane. The length of the 

 posterior extremities is eight inches and an half. The toes, which are slender, 

 compressed, and distinct, agree in size, with the exception of the exterior toe, which 

 is almost imperceptibly smaller ; they are disposed on the same plane. The claws 

 have nearly the same size and extent of curvature as the claw of the thumb. The 

 interfemoral membrane is regularly cut out in a circular manner, and forms a border 

 along the inner side of the posterior extremities, about an inch and an half in breadth. 



The head, as in other species of Pteropus, is oblong, and the muzzle compara- 

 tively of moderate length : it is very gradually attenuated, and measures less than 

 one third of the entire length of the head. The nose is short, somewhat compressed 

 at the sides, and deeply emarginated anteriorly : in dried specimens, this organ is 

 somewhat contracted within the volume of the bony support of the rostrum. The 

 nostrils are round anteriorly, and pass backward by a cvirve, resembling part of a 

 volute. The ears are simple, long, narrow, and acuminate. The eyes, as in other 

 species of this genus, are large and prominent, and the irides dark. The gape of 

 the mouth terminates under the anterior canthus of the eye, and, in correspondence 

 with the length of the muzzle, admits of considerable expansion. The nose projects 

 but slightly beyond the jaw, and the lips are narrow, and form a neatly defined 

 inclosure of the mouth. No vibrissce exist, but a few lengthened, bristly hairs are 



