igo8.] Records of the Indian Museum. i6i 



introductory note we learn that a " species" (of Pteropus) "■ is com- 

 mon in the Nicobars which is styled Pteropus nicobaricus by the 

 naturalists of the 'Novara' expedition, and Pi. melanotus in the 

 Catalogue of the Mammalia in the Museum of the Asiatic Society." 

 Proceeding, Mr, Blyth, in a succeeding passage, admits that he is 

 unacquainted with the literature describing the discoveries of the 

 Austrian expedition. 



Through the courtesy of Dr. Annandale, the Superintendent 

 of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, I have been enabled to examine 

 one of Captain lycwis's specimens, which is also one of the originals 

 of Blyth's first and early description of 1846, and likewise the type 

 specimen of his Pteropus' melanotus of 1863. The example agrees 

 perfectly in all its essential characters with the Pteropus nico- 

 baricus described by Zelebor in 1869. Under these circumstances 

 it is evident, therefore, Zelebor' s name can no longer be employed 

 for this species, except as a synonym, having been for many years, 

 as I have shown, superseded by the published description of Bl3^th 

 in 1846. The species must, in consequence, now stand as Pteropus 

 melanotus, Blyth. This revision is, 1 believe, in accord with the 

 views of Dr. Gerrit Miller, Jr., who first directed attention to the 

 ambiguousness of the earlier identifications. 



The bat described by Peters as Pteropus condorensis ^ has 

 been referred by Dobson to this species {Monograph of the Asiatic 

 Chiroptera, 1876, p. 18). Although related to Pt. melanotus in 

 some characters, it is quite a distinct and characteristic form, 

 confined to the distant island of Pulo Condor in the China Sea, 

 lying off the Annamese coast, about lat. 8° 40' N., long. 106° 42' 

 E. Some of the small islands adjoining the Acheen coast of 

 Sumatra (Pulo Way, Pulo Brasse, etc.) have, I think, been con- 

 founded by Dobson with this far-off island, his references in the 

 habitat given for Pteropus nicobaricus in the Monograph of the 

 Asiatic Chiroptera leading one to this inference. That these islands 

 are inhabited by a species of Pteropus we possess ample evidence. 

 It also occurs on the mainland, and what I take to be the same 

 species has been recorded as far south as Nias Island. I cannot, 

 however, agree as to the specific identity of these bats with Pter- 

 opus melanotus {= nicobaricus) , which, I think it will be found, 

 is peculiar to the Nicobar group, while the Sumatran bat is a not 

 yet differentiated species. To decide this point, however, it will be 

 necessary to acquire a far larger and more representative collection 

 of specimens than is at present available for study. 



Both male and female specimens of Pteropus melanotus closely 

 resemble one another in the coloration of the fur, exhibiting but 

 little variation from that which was so accurately recorded by 

 Blyth, '" and described later, in much more detail, by Dr. G. Miller, 

 Jr., 3 differing greatly in this respect from the following species, 



1 M. B. Akad., Berlin, 1869, p. 393. 



2 Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, xv, p. 367. 



3 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xxiv, p. 784. 



