1887.] J. ScuUj— On the Chiroiptera. of Nepal. 235 



Museum and to tlie museum of tlie East India Company in London. 

 Mr. Hodgson's name had, however, become so firmly connected with 

 Nepal in the minds of English zoologists, that some portion of his 

 collections in Sikkim were wrongly assigned by them to Nepal. So 

 that, mainly by Dr. Horsfield, Hodgson's additions of Chiroptera from 

 Darjiling were published as coming from the former country. Owing 

 to this confusion, at least half a dozen species of bats from Sikkim, 

 never obtained by Hodgson in Nepal, were credited to the latter country 

 on the strength of that naturalist having collected them. 



In 1876 and 1878, Dr. Dobson's two admirable works on the 

 Chiroptera appeared. The task this author had on hand was too ex- 

 tensive to permit his paying particular attention to a relatively small 

 question like the station of certain species in Nepal ; he had, moreover, 

 to be guided to some extent by previous writers, and to rely on museum 

 labels, which are not always accurate. He has in consequence given in 

 his works some species as from Nepal which were not obtained there 

 by Hodgson or any one else, and has altogether omitted mention in his 

 synonymy of two names given by Hodgson to Nepalese species. 



In short, without much balancing of evidence, it was impossible to 

 draw up a correct list of the bats of Nepal from the writings of the 

 authors I have referred to ; and I consequently determined to investi- 

 gate the whole question with the aid of the specimens I had myself 

 collected. The result of my enquiry is set forth in this paper. 



I have already mentioned Mr. Hodgson's collection of bats from 

 Nepal. This forms the foundation of our knowledge on the subject, 

 and the subsequent additions of material can be readily indicated. In 

 1871, a collector of the Indian Museum obtained 3 specimens of bats, 

 representing two species, at Kathmandu ; and the third and last collec- 

 tion of Nepalese Chiroptera is my own. 



Mr. Hodgson named 12 species from Nepal, but some of his speci- 

 mens in the British Museum show that he really obtained 13 species in 

 that country. The collector of the Indian Museum did not, I think, 

 add anything to Hodgson's list, although one of his specimens was 

 described as a new species by Dr. Dobson (see p. 263). Of the 10 species 

 which I obtained, no less than 5 were never secured by Mr. Hodgson in 

 Nepal. The inference I draw from this is that the list of species of 

 Chiroptera now actually known to occur in the Nepal Valley does not 

 completely represent the forms to be found there. A considerably 

 extended list must be the reward of future workers in that country. 



As regards a list of bats inhabiting the whole State of Nepal, that 

 would certainly include a very large numb jr of species not to be found 

 in the Nepal Valley ; for anything I know to the contrary nearly every 



