lOB ME. K. ANDERSEN ON BATS [May 16, 



vertical grooves on the fiout of the lower lip. In the eastern races 

 oi ferruin-equiiium {iiippon, tragatits, regidus) sometimes exactly 

 the same, but very often the lateral grooves are more or less 

 reduced ; in the western i-aces {proxhnus, typicus, obscurus) they 

 have, as a rule, almost or quite disappeared *. 



As to the general size, the eastern races are, as it seems, always 

 larger than any form of a^nis ; proxhnus and typicus at least on 

 an average so ; while ohsciirits is nearly of the same size as afftnis 

 himalayanids . 



The remaining external chai'acters need only a brief record : — 



The supplementary leaflet is slightly more reduced than in 

 affinis, and more closely united to the upper lip ; this latter it is 

 (moi-e than the i-eduction) which makes it less distinctly visible. 

 The posterior connecting process is more lengthened in antero- 

 posterior direction, also a little more projecting, but quite rounded 

 off at the summit. But, curiously enough, in one specimen (from 

 Transcaspia) I find the process quite as in affinis (in all other 

 specimens from W. Asia it is normal). The lancet has a marked 

 tendency towards assuming a hastate shape, rather than a cuneate, 

 the extreme tip being, generally, long and slender ; but sometimes, 

 and both in the eastern and western races (though more often in 

 the former), individuals are found in which the lancet is almost 

 cuneate, as in affinis. — These two individual variations are worth 

 noticing, asi, both of them, pointing back to affinis. 



The ears are somewhat modified : more attenuated below the 

 tip, and more pointed. 



The plagiopatagium is inserted on the tarsus, on the base of the 

 metatarsus, or about 1 mm. above the ankle-joint. But in one 

 individual (from Cyprus) it is inserted no less than 6 mm. in 

 front of the ankle-joint. It, again, recalls Rk. affinis. 



Colowr. A small series of skins from Tessin, Switzerland, afibrds 

 some information as to the difference in colour dependent on the 

 age of the individuals ; all the specimens are of the same sex, from 

 the same locality, and the same month : — ■ 



(1) Two full-grown, but younger individuals (females, 

 December) ; distal epiphyses of metacarjials ossified, but teeth 

 unwoi'n ; they ai-e pi'obably about six months old : — Upper side 



* According to Blaiiford (J. A. S. H. Ivii. pt. ii.uo. 3 (1888) p. 263), Eh. tragatus 

 Hodgs., regarded hy him as a distinct species, and corresponding to what is here 

 called the eastern races oiferrum-eqtnimm, has three mental grooves, ferrum-equinum 

 one only. If this were so, I should have no objection to separating Bh. tragatus 

 Specifically from ferrum-equinum. But there is, in this as in otlier respects, a 

 complete intergradation. The details are these:— (1) " Bh. tragatus" (10 spirit- 

 specimens) : in three individuals (Kashmir, Almora, Darjeeling) the three grooves 

 arc perfectly distinct; in three (Masuri, Nepal) the lateral grooves are less distinct 

 than the centi-al one ; in two (Nepal) they are so far on the way towards obliteration 

 that it requires close examination to discover them ; in the two remaining (Shanghai) 

 they are still more reduced. (2) Mh. ferrum-equinum (s. str.) : ratlier often traces 

 of the lateral grooves are easily observable ; a number of individuals before me, from 

 various ])laces in Europe and W. Asia, have either a slight depression or a short 

 linear groove on either side of the central one ; in a specimen from Tiibingen (one 

 instance only, among several) they are at least not more obliterated than in two 

 " tragatus" from Nepal and two ." nippoti " from Shanghai, 



