62 THE MAMMALS OF ETHIOPIAN AFRICA 



One of the features of the fauna of continental Africa is the 



Bats. 



absence of flying-foxes of the typical genus Pteropus, this absence 

 extending also to the island of Zanzibar. On the other hand, representatives of 

 these bats occur in Madagascar and the Mascarene, Comoro, and Seychelles groups. 

 In 1909, however, specimens of a new species of flying-fox were obtained from 

 the island of Pemba, which lies to the north of Zanzibar at a distance of only 

 about 37i miles from the mainland. That the genus should be found so close to 

 the African continent, and yet should never have reached the same, is very 

 remarkable, especially when the long interval between the Comoros and Seychelles, 

 on the one hand, and the Andamans and Ceylon, on the other, is borne. in mind. 

 The Pemba species belongs to the short-nosed group of the genus distinguished as 

 Spectrum, and has been named Pteropus voeltzkowi. 



In addition to being the home of the great hammer-headed bat {Hypsignathus 

 monstrosws) of the forests of the west coast, one of the most hideous and repulsive- 

 looking of the whole order, and characterised by the presence of a kind of shield 

 on the large and horse-like muzzle, equatorial Africa is inhabited by a group of 

 fruit-eating bats collectively known as epauletted bats. These bats take their 

 name from the circumstance that the males of the majority of the species are 

 furnished with large glandular pouches in the skin of the sides of the neck near 

 the shoulders, from the apertures of which project tufts of long, coarse, yellow 

 hairs. Formerly all these bats were included in the single genus Epomophorus. 

 Anchieta's fruit-bat, Plerotes anchietce, of the Benguela district, has, however, been 

 shown to represent a distinct generic type, which in some degree serves to connect 

 the more typical kinds with the hammer-headed species and the short-tailed 

 African flying-foxes of the genus Rousettus, or Xantharpyia. In place, for 

 instance, of having only f pairs of cheek-teeth like the typical epauletted bats, it 

 has £ pairs, and is thus only a step from Rousettus, in which the number is f , i.e. 

 5 upper and 6 lower. In addition to this, it is characterised by the great width 

 of the palate, which exceeds that of all the other members of the group, as well 

 as that of Rousettus. The next generic representative of the group is Epomops, 

 as represented by E. franqueti, E. comptus, and E. buettikoferi, which agrees with 

 Epomophorus in the number of its teeth, but has a broad palate flattened behind, 

 as in Rousettus. In marked distinction to this, is the narrow and posteriorly 

 hollowed palate of the typical genus Epomopihorus. In this respect Epomops and 

 Epomophorus, both of which feed on soft, ripe fruits, especially tigs, have followed 

 essentially different lines of development in adapting themselves to a special kind 

 of diet. Another generic representative of the group is Micropteropus, easily 

 recognised by the extreme shortness of its skull, which approximates to that of 

 the Asiatic genus Gynopterus. 



The remaining generic representatives of the exclusively Ethiopian epomo- 

 phorine section are Nanonycteris, with a single west coast species ranging from 

 Liberia to southern Nigeria ; Scotonycteris, with one species from the island of 

 Fernando Po, and Casinycteris, likewise with only a single species, which inhabits 

 the Cameruns. 



Of the group typified by the Oriental Gynopterus, Ethiopia possesses one 

 generic representative, Myonycteris, with four western species, one of which 



