264 W. T. Blanford — Notes on Indian Chiroptera. [No. 3, 



specimen, and subsequently recorded by Dobson from Java and Laos 

 (Siam), has recently been discovered by Col. Kinlocb near Darjiling. 



Megadehma spasma. 



Blyth 36 years ago (J. A. S. B. XXI, p. 346) noticed the occurrence 

 of this bat in Ceylon. In his Ccatalogue, p. 23, note, he observed that 

 the specimens had disappeared from the Society's Museum. I well 

 remember his lamenting the loss of several bats, the bottles having been 

 stolen for sale and their valuable contents thrown away. The species 

 does not appear to have been again observed east of the Bay of Bengal, 

 and Dobson, very naturally, in his Catalogue of Chiroptera, p. 158, con- 

 siders the occurrence of this species in Ceylon doubtful. 



In some MS. notes which Mr. F. W. Bourdillon kindly placed at 

 my disposal, a bat obtained from a hollow tree, at an elevation of 2700 

 feet above the sea near Mynall, in Travancore, was described. It was 

 clearly a species of Megaderma, and the size (length 2| inches, forearm 2) 

 and nose-leaf agreed much better with M. spasma than with M. lyra. 

 There are some specimens of M. spasma in the British Museum labelled as 

 from Ceylon, but their history is unknown. They have the forearm 2"1 

 to 2.2 inches in length. On the whole, I think it probable that M. spasm,a 

 does inhabit Ceylon and Southern India. 



Nyctophilus geoffroyi. 



This bat, which is identified by Dobson with N. timoriensis of 

 Greoffroy, is an inhabitant of the Australian region, being found in Aus- 

 tralia, Tasmania, and some of the Pacific islands. It is, however, included 

 amongst the mammals of India (p. 48) by Jerdon, who says, " This bat, 

 which has been found in Europe and Australia, was sent from Mussoorie 

 by Hutton." Hutton, however (P. Z. S. 1872, p. 704), denied all know- 

 ledo-e of the species, aud Mr. R. A. Sterndale, in his Natural History of 

 the Mammalia of India, although he copies the description quoted by 

 Jerdon, very naively remarks that he can find no trace of the bat in 

 Dobson's Monograph. It is, I think, evident that Jerdon took the name 

 and locality from Blyth's Catalogue, and that in this there has been a 

 mistake in printing. At the end of the text in p. 36 there is printed : 

 " Genus NyctopJnlus, Leach, Hab. Australia. A. Specimen presented by 

 the Sydney Institution (1845)." On the top of the next page comes : — 

 " 116, JV. Geoffroyi, Leach, Syn. Barhastellus pacificus, Gray. Hab. Europe, 

 Himalaya. A. B. Specimens in spirit, Masuri, Capt. H. Hutton (1844)." 

 Now in all other genera in this catalogue, the name of the genus is 

 followed by the name of the species, not by the habitat, and it is, I think, 

 clear that " 116. N. geoffroyi, Leach, Syn. Barhastellus pacijicus, Gray." 

 ouo-ht to come immediately below " Genus Nyctophihis, Leach " and be- 



