326 



Although I have given to this species the most prominent posi- 

 tion, I do not regard it as the most typical of the genus ; but the 

 generic name having been borrowed from it, it appeared desirable to 

 mention it first, and those afterwards which are less known, but per- 

 haps more characteristic. 



The top of the head is very much elevated, but not quite so much 

 so as in some of the other species of Kerivoula ; and the muzzle is 

 a good deal depressed, and of medium length. 



All the face is very hairy, the fur of the forehead extending nearly 

 to the end of the nose, and filling up the concavity of the face. The 

 upper lips are furnished with fine longish hairs of the same texture 

 as those of the rest of the body. 



The ears, as already mentioned in the generic description, are 

 broad, and when seen in front appear like two rather broad recesses, 

 in the further end or bottom of which the tragus takes its origin. 

 They are rather more pointed than in some others, owing to a 

 shallow notch immediately below their tip, in the outer margin ; and 

 the inner margin becoming more convex as it approaches the tip, 

 assists in giving to the latter an outward direction. 



The tragus has been already described sufficiently. 



The wing-membranes extend precisely to the base of the toes. 



The tail is as long as the head and body, is composed of six joints, 

 and has its tip enclosed in the membrane. 



The fur of the back extends sparingly on to the interfemoral mem- 

 brane, for half its length ; and all its transverse lines are studded with 

 very short and fine hairs, scarcely visible without the assistance of a 

 lens. The upper surface of the tail itself, and of the legs and feet, 

 are sparingly, but visibly, clothed with fine hairs, most conspicuously 

 on the latter. The whole of the margin of the interfemoral mem- 

 brane, inclusive of the os calcis, is fringed with fine hairs, those on 

 the os calcis being adpressed and similar to those of the feet, whilst 

 those on the edge of the membrane are projecting and bristle-like. 



On no other part of the membranes does the fur of the body en- 

 croach ; but that of the head extends for half the length of the ears, 

 on their hinder surface. 



The fur of the body is very fine, but without gloss, and nearly 

 unicoloured. That of the upper parts is buff for two-thirds of its 

 length, the remainder a bright and lively rust-colour. Beneath, it is 

 uniform whitish buff, tinged with rust-colour on the humeral region 

 and along the sides of the body. 



All the bones of the limbs in the dried specimens are of a light 

 yellowish-brown ; and the interfemoral and interbrachial mem- 

 branes are of the same colour. A part of the wing-membranes con- 

 tiguous to the sides of the body, from the foot to the elbow, and 

 from thence along the under side of the fore-arm to the wrist, is 

 of a similar colour ; and it passes from the wrist along each finger, 

 margining it on each side, and leaving three triangular interspaces 

 between the digits, of a deep chocolate-brown colour, which in many 

 places is elaborately marked with dotted lines of the same light 

 colour as that which accompanies the wing-bones. 



