122 



of M. Schreibersii have been preserved in spirit. It is necessary to 

 make this statement before proceeding further, as the foregoing de- 

 scription of the latter species was drawn up from the specimen in 

 spirit, whereas the stuffed specimens of both species have been re- 

 sorted to in the following comparative description. Unfortunately 

 I have not yet obtained a sufficient number of M. blepotis in spirit 

 to be able to give as many details as I could desire. 



Compared with M. Schreibersii, the face of the present species 

 appears more elongated,, although still very short ; and it is rather 

 more pointed, and has the nostrils more prominent. The ears, too, 

 are relatively somewhat longer. 



In quality the fur is pretty similar, from whatever locality the 

 animal may have been obtained. That of the upper parts is uni- 

 coloured, sometimes having the tips of the hairs a little paler. In 

 M. Schreibersii it is bicoloured. The general colour is very dark 

 brown, varying slightly in its hue according to the locality from 

 which the examples have been obtained. Beneath it is bicoloured 

 in both species. In the present one it is dark brown at the base, 

 tipped with a paler tint of the same colour, which latter occupies the 

 whole length of the hairs on the pubal region. 



Examples from Japan have for the most part a rich umber tinge 

 in the colour of the fur ; in others from Amboyna a black-brown is 

 the prevailing colour, still however with a reddish tinge, whilst the 

 majority of those from Australia have the fur of a very deep brown 

 colour without such tinge. There is, however, a remarkable variety 

 sometimes met with in the latter country, which may be thus men- 

 tioned : — The fur of the head and fore part of the back is of the 

 ordinary sombre colour, but that of the loins and rump is on the 

 contrary of a bright chestnut-brown, very silky and shining, and the 

 change from one colour to the other is not effected by a regular gra- 

 dation, but takes place almost abruptly, a wavy irregular line across 

 the loins marking the confines of the two. But in one or two spe- 

 cimens which I have seen, the chestnut colour extends up the middle 

 of the back in a narrowish line, almost to the shoulders, and pro- 

 duces a very marked and beautiful variety*. In these specimens 

 the region of the pubes also is lighter in colour than in the ordi- 

 narily coloured individuals. 



I have not been able to examine examples of this species taken at 

 different periods of the year, so as to follow out the notes given by 

 M. Temminck of the seasonal changes in the colour of the fur. 



Some differences are observable in the crania of this and the last 



* Somewhat the same style of colouring occurs in the Scotophilus Gouldii, also 

 of Australia, and in some examples there is a slight tendency towards the same 

 peculiar division of the two colours. Scotophilus tuberculatum also, of New Zea- 

 land, is very similarly coloured ; but the gradation from the dark fore parts to the 

 more rufous hinder parts, is very slight and uniform. 



Mr. Blyth has remarked of many of the Indian Bats, that they are subject to 

 what he calls a rufous phase : perhaps this remark may be extended to the Au- 

 stralian examples of the present species, although why this should not equally 

 take place with those inhabiting the islands of the Indian Archipelago, is rather 

 difficult to decide. 



