1900.] MAMMALS FROM 3.W. ARABIA. 09 



These specimens are larger than Egyptian examples, agreeing 

 in size with Anderson's " var. murraiana " from Karachi 1 ; the 

 latter form is also recorded by its describer from Bnsbire. 



6. JNycteris thebaica Geoffr. 



a-h (in ale). Myba, 1760 feet, 17th August. 



7. SCOTOPHILIA SOHLIEEEEN'I Pet. 



a. Jimel, 16th August. 



b-f. Sheikh Othman, 18th-27th September. 



(j, h (in all.). Lahej. 



8. Taphozous perforatum Geoffr.* 



a-d. Lahej, 22nd August. 



tf, /(in spirit). Lahej, 22nd August. 



9. Rhinopoma microphallus Geoffr. 



a-g. Myba, 17th August. 



"Small Bats (various). — Most of the villages in the interior of 

 S. Arabia have one or more towers, into which they drive the pick 

 of their stock, and into which they retreat for a last stand in case 

 of war. They are built of mud or stone (Nab, Dar, or Hassan 2 ). 

 In times of peace they are, as a rule, only used as store-houses for 

 grain, &c. In these towers Bats live in hundreds, one or two 

 species in each tower. 



" In the Sultan's palace at Lahej the passages leading to his 

 private apartments are haunted by hundreds of Bats, and the strong- 

 pungent smell is almost unbearable. They were difficult to get at, 

 as the roof is formed of sticks put across from wall to wall, and it 

 is in between the sticks that the Bats hang. There were more Bats 

 in Dar Mansur 3 than any other place I have seen. Their droppings 

 were fully 6 in. deep in many parts of the tower. The smell was 

 terrible, but not quite so bad as at the palace, the reason being that 

 Dar Mansur is a ruin, more open and drier than the palace. In 

 this tower there only seemed to be two species — the Long-eared, 

 Nycteris thebaica, and the Long-tail, Rhinopoma microphyttum : these 

 two were the commonest species we met with ; as a rule they were 

 to be found in every tower, and perhaps we would get one other 

 species in small numbers as well. The long-tails were the worst 

 Bat to skin I have seen ; they were so very fat — a regular store of 

 fat being at the base of the tail. One or two Bats were shot round 

 the Lahej bungalow and a few at Sheikh Othman, but most were 

 caught In towers or in caves in banks of waclis. It is quite a sight 

 to see the hundreds of Bats streaming out of these towers in the 

 dusk and scattering ail over the place. Some of them are very 

 high fliers, and at once shot up, while others never seemed to go 

 far and would hang round the villages." 



1 Gat, Mamm. Ind. Mug. i. p. L13 (1881). 



- Nub or Dat = a tower of mud or unburnt bricks. Hassan = a stouo tower. 

 3 = Maneur'a Tower. 



7* 



