1887.] J. Scully— Ow the Chiroptera of Nepal 237 



2. Ctnontcteris amplexicaudata. 



Pteropus amplexicaudatus, Geoffrey, Ann. du Mus. rv, p. 96 (1810). 

 Pteropus pyrivorus, Hodgson, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng. vol. iv, p. 700 (1835). 

 Cynonycteris amplexicaudata, Dobson, Mon. Asiat. Chir. p. 29 (1876) ; Cat. Chir. 

 Brit. Mus. p. 72 (1878). 



Mr. Hodgson's description of his Pteropus pyrivorus from Nepal 

 leaves little doubt that he was referring to Cynonycteris amplexicaudata : 

 he gives, length of head and body 6 inches, tail 0*5, expanse 24 ; weight 

 5 ounces. And Dr. Dobson's examination of the type specimen in the 

 British Museum settles the question. Mr. Hodgson says that these bats 

 only appear in Central Nepal in autumn, and at midnight, when they 

 come in large bodies to plunder the fruit-gardens. As the animal was 

 considered a perfect pest from the havoc it made among the ripe pears, 

 he called it pyrivorus. He adds that when these bats appear in Central 

 Nepal they must necessarily come from a very considerable distance, 

 and that in the plains it is noted of them that they will travel 30 or 40 

 miles, and as many back, in a single night, in order to procure food. 



These remarks of Mr. Hodgson as to the habits of Pteropus pyrivo- 

 rus have been repeatedly misapplied to a totally distinct species of bat. 

 Dr. J. E. Gray wrongly placed Pt. pyrivorus as a synonym of Oynopterus 

 marginatus in his List of ' Mammalia in the British Museum ' published in 

 1843. In 1844, Blyth confidently asserted that Pteropus pyrivorus was the 

 same as Oynopterus marginatus (J. A. S. B. XIII, p. 479) ; it does not 

 appear that he had seen an example named by Hodgson,but Gray certainly 

 had two Nepalese specimens before him which are still in the collection of 

 the British Museum. Horsfield, Hodgson himself, Hutton, and Dobson 

 followed suit in this wrong determination. Hutton (P. Z. S. 1872, 

 p. 693), under the head of C. marginatus, quotes Hodgson's account of 

 Pt. ^rivorus ^ndim.Qk.QS some remarks about the (supposed) wonder- 

 ful feat accomplished by this bat in travelling from the plains to the 

 Nepal Valley, and back again, in a single night. Dr. Dobson gives 

 Pt. pijrivorus as a synonym, and quotes a portion of Hutton's remarks, in 

 his article on Oynopterus marginatus in the Monograph of Asiatic 

 Chiroptera (p. 26). But in the ' Catalogue of Chiroptera in the British 

 Museum,' published two years later, he finds that Pteropus pyrivorus is 

 undoubtedly Oyn. amplexicaudata, and gives Mr. Hodgson's remarks 

 about its habits, correctly, under the description of the latter animal. 

 The proverbial immortality of error, however, asserts itself, for, in the 

 work last mentioned, we find the article on Oynopterus marginatus 

 transcribed from the Monograph without excision of the references to 

 Pteropus pyrivorus. The latter title is given as a synonym with a re- 



