196 G. E. Dobson — On the Pteropidce of India. [No. 3, 



moderately developed, can be of little use owing to the nocturnal habits of 

 the animals), and this development varies remarkably according to family, 

 genus, and species. 



Thus the peculiar form of the nose-leaf taken with the shape of the 

 ears at once characterises the Rhinolophidce, and each species of the family 

 may be distinguished by secondary modifications of these organs alone. 



And in those families of bats where the nostrils are not furnished with 

 appendages, the form and relative size of the ear will generally be found to be 

 the most important characters for readily and accurately determining the 

 species, and, next to and with these, the quality and distribution of the fur. 



I shall employ this principle of diagnosis in the following descriptions 

 of the species of Frugivorous Bats known to inhabit Continental India and 

 Burma, and the Islands of the Bay of Bengal. 



Genus I. — PTEEOPrs, Brisson. 



Nostrils projecting ; upper lip with a vertical groove in front hounded 

 laterally hy naked prominences ; index finger tvith a distinct claw^ metacar- 

 pal hone of second finger shorter than the index finger ; wings from the sides 

 of the hairy hach ; wing-memhrane attached to the hack of the first phalanx 

 of the second toe ; tail none. 



-n ^.^. .4 1—1 2—2 3—3 



Dentition :—in. — ; c. ^— ^ ; pm. ^—^ ; m. g—^. 



A. — Ears acutely pointed. 

 PTEROPrS MEDIUS. PL XIV, Fig. 1. 



Pteropus medius, Temminck, Monog. Mammal., I, p. 176. 



,, edivardsii, (in part) Geoff., Ann. du Mus., vol. xv., p. 92. 

 „ leucocephalus, Hodgson, Journ. As. Soc. Beng., iv., p. 699. 

 „ assamensis, McClelland, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., vii., p. 148. 



Ears long, with acutely pointed tips, the upper third of the outer 

 margin concave beneath the tip ; in fully grown individuals the longest 

 diameter of the opening of the external ear, from the point of junction of 

 the outer and inner margins below to the tip, measures one inch and a 

 half* 



Nostrils projecting, with a deep intervening emargination ; upper lip 

 with a narrow vertical groove in front bounded laterally by naked rounded 

 prominences continuous with the integument of the nostrils. 



* The length of the ear (anteriorly) as given in the tables of measurements 

 accompanying this paper (and also wherever mentioned in previous papers) has been 

 determined by measuring the distance between the termination of the outer margin 

 below and the tip. The breadth has been ascertained by means of a string passod 

 round the ear posteriorly from the inner to the outer margin. 



