XVIII. — ON THE FRUIT BATS OF THE 

 GENUS P T E ROP U S INHABITING THE 

 ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ARCHIPE- 

 LAGOS, WITH THE DESCRIPTION OF 

 A NEW SPECIES. 



By Geo. E. Mason. 



Having recently had occasion to examine the species of Ptcro- 

 pus recorded from the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelagos, with 

 the object of ascertaining what may be regarded as established 

 facts respecting the differentiation and distribution of the recog- 

 nised forms, and finding, as the result of my studies, that many of 

 the doubtful references in relation to the synonymy of the several 

 species are not only thereby corrected, but have likewise furnished 

 much additional data in respect to their range of distribution, 

 I have, upon careful consideration, deemed it expedient to place 

 on record the conclusions at which I arrived, the liberal material 

 at my command having offered exceptional opportunities for the 

 carrying out of this object. One species hitherto confounded with 

 the large Malayan Kalong I have been obliged to describe as new\ 



Five well-defined and characteristic species of Pteropus are 

 now known to occur in the Nicobar and Andaman Archipelagos, 

 three of them, we may conclude, being peculiar to the islands, 

 and the remaining two only occurring as stragglers ; one of these 

 latter species, viz., Pteropus celcsno ( = edulis), however, should 

 possibly be regarded as a regular migrant during the monsoons. 



Pteropus melanotus, Blyth. 



1846. Pteropus edulis, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Sac. Bengal, xv, p. 367. 

 1 86 1. Pteropus nicoharicus, Fitzinger, Sitzungsber . Math. Natur- 



wissensch. CI. Kais. Akad. Wissensch., Wien, xlii (i860), 



p. 389, 1861 {nomen nudum). 

 1863, Pteropus melanotus, Blyth, Cat. Mammal. Mus. Asiat. Soc. 



Bengal, p. 20 {nomen nudum). 

 1869. Pteropus nicoharicus, Zelebor, Rcise der ester reichischen 



Fregatte Novara, Zool., i (Wirbelthiere), i, Manim., p. 11. 



From a brief passage occurring in one of a series of letters ' 

 written by the Rev. John Gottfried Haensel, a missionary of the 



1 lyetters on the Nicobar Islands, their Natural Productions, and the Manners, 

 Customs, and Superstitions of the Natives, etc., etc. Addressed by the Rev. John 

 Gottfried Haensel (the only surviving missionary), to the Rev. C. J. I,atrobe, 

 18 12. 



