BATS. 353 



has thus far been obtained from the Indian peninsula, and this, sin- 

 gularl}' enough, is more nearly related to the Madagascan P. Ed- 

 wardsii than to any of the more eastern species, although separated 

 from its habitat by a continuous water-way of upwards of one 

 thousand miles. The rarity of species in the Indian peninsula is 

 not readily accounted for, seeing how numerous are the individuals 

 belonging to the single species of the genus.* 



Of the two remaining families of bats, the Nycteridse and Rhino- 

 lophidaB, the former, comprising some twelve species, are almost 

 wholly restricted to the Oriental and Ethiopian realms, while the 

 latter, numbering about fifty species, are spread over the greater 

 portion of the Old World, from Ireland eastward to Japan and 

 New Ireland, and southward to the i^ape of Good Hope. No spe- 

 cies appears to have been thus far positively identified from any of 

 the Polynesian islands. Nearly all the species are included in the 

 genera Rhinolophus and Phyllorhina, the former of which has prac- 

 tically the range of the whole family ; Rhinolophus ferrum-equi- 

 num, the common horseshoe bat, is distributed over almost the 

 entire tract included between the south of England, Japan, and 

 the Cape of Good Hope. The species of Phyllorhina are confined 

 principally to the tropical and sub-tropical parts of the Old World ; 

 Phyllorhina armigera, the most northerly species, has been found 

 at Amoy, China, and at Mussoree, on the Himalayas, at an eleva- 

 tion of five thousand feet. 



* Dr. J. Anderson thus describes the apprairanoo of these animals (" Cat. 

 Mamm. Ind. Mus.," 1881, p. 101, Part I) : " This species has been flying for 

 the last few days from the north to the south of the city [Calcutta] in im- 

 mense numbers, immediately after sunset. The sky, from east to west, has 

 been covered with them as far as the eye could reach, and all were flying 

 witli an evident pui-pose, and making for some common feeding-ground. Over 

 a transverse area of two hundred and fifty yards as many as seventy bnts 

 passed overhead in one minute ; and as they were spread over an area of 

 great breadth and could bo detected in the sky on both sides as far as could 

 be seen, their numbers were very great, but yet they continued to pass over- 

 he.id for about half an hour. This is not the first time I have observed this 

 habit in this species ; indeed, it was more markedly seen in August, 1864, 

 while I was residing in the Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. The sky, imme- 

 diately after sunset, was covered with this bat, travelling in a steady manner 

 from west to east, and spread over a great expanse, all evidently making 

 for one goal, and travelling, as it were, like birds of passage, with a steady 

 purpose." 



24 



