472 MR. OLDFIELD THOMAS ON [May 1, 



8, SCOTEINUS BALSTONI ThoS. 



Abstr. p. Z. S. No. 31, p. 2, May 8, 1906. 



6. 173. $. 170, 171, 172. North Pool, Laverton. 1650'. 

 19-26 October, 1905. 



5 . 177 (in spirit). Hawksnest, Laverton. 1650'. 7 JSTovember, 



Allied to S. greyi Gray ; the fur bicolor instead of unicolor. 



General characters and size very much as in S. greyi '*. Fur of 

 medium length ; hairs of back about 4'5 mm. in length. General 

 colour above, when the hairs are smoothed down, pale brown 

 (varying from a tone between wood-brown and fawn to one 

 between fawn and drab), -this colour occupying the terminal third 

 of the fur, the basal two-thirds being dark smoky brown, con- 

 trasting markedly with the light tips. Below, the hairs are 

 equally dark at base, with their tips pale pinkish buff. Hairs of 

 chin, throat, and pubic region nearly or quite pale to their bases. 

 Ears and membranes pale brown throughout. 



Ears slightly larger than in »S'. greyi, but very similar in shape. 

 Wings to the base of the outer toe. A well-marked postcalcareal 

 lobule present. 



Skull broad, stout and flat, as usual in this group ; la,rger and 

 flatter than in the alcoholic topotype a of ^S*. greyi. A well- 

 marked occipital " helmet " present, but the anterior ridge from 

 it does not run forward on to the middle line of the frontals, 

 where, indeed, there is a slight longitudinal concavity. Brain-case 

 i-ather small in proportion to the size of the skull. 



Teeth about as in S. greyi. Upper incisors standing rather 

 further away from the canines. 



Dimensions of the type, the starred measurements taken in the 

 flesh :— 



Forearm 36 mm. (four other specimens 34-35). 



*Head and body 55; *tail 40 ; *hind foot 7 ; *ear 15 (13 in a 

 spirit-specimen) . 



Skull — greatest length to base of incisors 1 5 ; basal length in 

 middle line 10*8 ; zygomatic breadth 10*1 ; front of upper canine 

 to back of m^ 5'2 ; front of lower canine to back of m^ 5*9. 



r?/j9e. Adult female. B.M. No. 6.8.1.41. Original number 170. 



Although the essential characters of this bat are very much as 

 in S. greyi, its conspicuously different bicolor fur readily separates 

 it from that species, whose fur is quite unicolor, dark brown or 

 chestnut. No doubt better material of S. greyi, for comparison, 

 would show further points of difference. 



I have had much pleasure in naming this well-marked species 

 in honour of Mr. Balston, to whose generosity science is indebted 



* The alcoholic specimen a of S. greyi, called " type " hy Dobson (who was under 

 the impression that the species was first described by himself), is rather smaller than 

 the skin figured bj' Gray in the ' Voyage of the Erebus and Terror,' specimen h 

 of Dobson's Catalogue. Now that a named figure is recognised as conferring priority, 

 the species will stand to Gray's credit, with specimen b the type of it. Even were 

 Gray's naming invalid, however, Gould's description in the ' Mammals of Australia' 

 (1858) would antedate Dobson's. 



