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



Java and Sumatra, which has been reported from Tenasserim,* and may 

 probably be found in the Nicobar Islands. This species, the largest of 

 known bats, ma}'' be readily distinguished from Pt. medius by its ears, and 

 by the distribution and quality of the fur. The ears are proportionately 

 shorter and narrower than in the Indian species, and the concavity of the 

 upper third of the outer margin is much less distinct. In a specimen from 

 Java, in the Indian Museum, the ears are about the same length as in the 

 most adult specimen of Pt. medius, while its forearm exceeds that of the 

 latter species by more than two inches, and the tibia b}^ an inch and a half. 

 Compared with Pt. medius the light coloured portion of the fur extends further 

 down upon the shoulders, and the breadth across the loins occupied by hair is 

 proportionately much greater : this is well seen when specimens of equal 

 size are compared, the breadth of the fur in this position in the not fully 

 grown Pt. edulis being nearly, if not quite, double that in the adult 

 Pt. medius. Elsewhere the distribution of the fur is similar in both 

 species, but the hair on the wing-membranes and legs is conspicuously much 

 longer in Pt. edulis. 



P. — JEars rounded at the tip. 

 PTEROPrS NICOBARICUS. PL XIV, Fig. 2. 

 Fteropus nicoharicus, Fitzinger, Sitzungsb. Wien. Akad., 1860, p. 389, nomen nu- 

 dum. 

 „ melanotus, Blyth, Cat. Mammal. Mus. As. Soc. Beng., 1863, p. 20, nom. 



nudum. 

 f, nicoharicus, Zelebor, Reise der Oester. Freg. ' Novara,' Saugethiere, 1868, 



p. 11. 

 Ears rounded off at the tip, their breadth nearly equal to their length ; 

 the upper third of the outer margin slightly flattened, not concave, the lower 

 two-thirds convex ; 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, scarcely exceeds one inch. 



The distribution of the fur of the body is similar to that of Pt. medius, 

 but the hair on the wing-membrane is very much shorter. 



In some male specimens the colour of the fur also corresponds very 

 closely with that of Pt. medius ; generally, however, the lighter coloured por- 

 tions of fur on the nape of the neck, and on the shoulders and chest, are of a 

 deeper hue than in the latter species, usually dark ferruginous red or chest- 

 nut ; females and young males are commonly intensely hlacJc throughout ; in 

 some female specimens the position of the light-coloured tippet in the male 

 is indicated by a reddish tinge. 



* A very badly preserved dried skin of an immature specimen of some species of 

 Fteropus, in tke Indian Museum, has been identified by Mr. Blyth with Pt. edulis, and 

 the locality ' Tenasserim' recorded in his Catalogue. The specimen is in such a very 

 bad condition I am able neither to confirm nor to correct Mr. Blyth's identification. 



