1905.] MAMMALS OF SOUTHERN CAMEKOOKS. 73 



especially in swampy places. One so found was discovered through 

 the little birds twittering around it, as they do around an owl or 

 a snake. 



The Horseshoe Bats. 



The big Hipposideros commersoni I have sometimes seen flying 

 about over villages at evening twilight, catching insects in the 

 air. While doing this it makes a little squeaking sound in a 

 very high key, that some people (natives) said they could not 

 hear. 



Hipposideros cyclops is very frequently found in hollow trees, 

 along with Idiihrus and some species of Muridce. 



One or two species of Nycteris have been found also in hollow 

 trees. 



The Vespertilionid^. 



The little Bats of this family are generally found hanging on 

 bushes in the daytime, or seen flying around villages at evening. 

 Some of them seem to be partial to the plantains and bananas 

 at the back of villages, hiding under the big leaves. 



Two adults and a young one (in the month of October) were 

 caught together, entangled in a spider's web. 



One very little bat was found in a knot-hole in a small tree 

 that had been cut down and carried come distance to form the 

 post of a house ; the little bat had not been disturbed by the 

 cutting or the carrying of the tree, and was found by boys who 

 were peeling the bark. 



The Wrinkled-lipped Bat. 



The Bat called " efefae " is a member of the genus Nyctiiwrnus. 

 " Bifefae " are found in the holes bored in dead tree-trunks by 

 the Barbets called " ovol " {Heliobucco bonapartei). The bats and 

 the birds seem to live in the holes at the same time. They are 

 so often associated that the white eggs of the Barbets are said by 

 the natives to hatch out Bats. 



The large Taphozous peli was obtained only on one occasion, 

 near the Benito River, and must be rare or local. 



The Potamogale. 



Most of the specimens I have obtained of the " jes " {Potamo- 

 gale velox) were caught in snares set on the banks of streams, at 

 places were the animal's excrement was seen. It seems to have 

 the habit of resorting always to a certain spot to void excrement. 

 The " jes " is also occasionally killed by women when fishing out 

 little pools in the streams. When one is discovered in the pool it 

 is surrounded, and all the women strike at it with their cutlasses 

 as it darts hither and thither in the water, till it is killed. One 

 specimen (a pregnant female) was said to have been dug out of a 

 hole in the bank of a stream. 



