234 RHINOLOPHID^— RHINOLOPHUS 



The fur is thick and soft, and in its texture suggestive of wool 

 rather than fur ; it thickly clothes the whole face except the nose-leaf ; 

 fur, ears, and nose-leaf uniting to almost bury the eyes. On the hinder 

 surface of the ear the fur ceases at a point about one-third from the 

 base, but a few small hairs are sprinkled on the outer margin, and on 

 the inner a more conspicuous band reaches nearly to the apex. 

 The reflected portion of the anterior margin is somewhat thickly 

 covered with hair, which becomes thinner on the interior surface. On 

 the upper surface of the wing the fur extends approximately to a line 

 drawn from a point about one-third of the distance from the head of 

 the humerus to the middle of the femur ; a band of hair sometimes 

 runs along the antebrachial membrane nearly to the elbow. The fur 

 does not extend directly on to the interfemoral membrane, which how- 

 ever is sparsely furred to some extent on either side of the tail. On 

 the under surface of the wing the distribution of the fur is somewhat 

 similar, but there is no antebrachial band, a sprinkling extends from 

 the body almost to the elbow and knee, and the interfemoral membrane 

 is much more sparsely haired. 



The nose-leaf is well supplied with bristles ; in front there runs also 

 a prominent single fringe, and a double row along the upper lip. 



The colour in adults is uniform above, some shade between " mars 

 brown " and " Prout's brown," the bases of the hairs '' ecru drab " ; the 

 underside is "wood brown" washed with "ecru drab" on the throat 

 and neck ; there is no distinct line of demarcation. The wing, ear, and 

 foot are deep brown ; the false nipples light yellowish or brownish. 



Immature specimens are conspicuously greyer, the general colour of 

 the upper side (due to the hair-tips) being " drab " washed with brown 

 from the shoulders backwards, where the dark tips are longer and 

 almost conceal the whitish " ecru drab '' bases. Beneath, the throat and 

 neck are " ecru drab," the belly very light greyish drab. The young 

 females of the first year, although almost as large as the adults, may 

 also be distinguished by the absence of the false nipples, which do not 

 appear until the second autumn, and even then are not of the full size 

 (Rollinat and Trouessart). 



The juvenile pelage persists at least until early February (Coward), 

 when the epiphyses of the metacarpals have undergone ossification, 

 although the teeth are still unworn. Exactly how and when the change 

 to the mature pelage is affected is unknown. 



In the young at birth the eyes are closed and the underside is naked 

 and purple. There is a covering of short ash-coloured hairs on the upper 

 surface, which grow rapidly and assume a dusky colour. The mem- 

 branes are clear grey ; the ears turned backwards ; the nose-leaf as in 

 the adult. The eyes do not open until after ten days (Rollinat and 

 Trouessart). 



