1847.] The Slaty blue Magaderme. 891 



that the species does not hibernate (nor I fancy does any Indian Bat, 

 even in the lofty and cold sub -Himalayas, under at least 5000 feet of 

 elevation) ; that it is entirely nocturnal, though capable of a vigorous 

 flight even at noon of a sunny day ; that it is exclusively insectivorous, 

 and has no such cannibal propensities as are stated to belong to one of 

 its congeners, nor consequently are its haunts entirely avoided by the 

 smaller species of true Bat (Vespertilio proper) though the numerous- 

 ness of its own race leaves not much room for the intrusion of strangers ; 

 that the males and females dwell together promiscuously even when the 

 females are gravid and nearly parturient, and therefore probably always ; 

 that the young are seemingly driven away so soon as they can shift for 

 themselves, all those taken by me having been well grown ; that the 

 females bring forth in spring and perhaps also in autumn, the latter 

 point resting on information, the former on the fact that all my females 

 were, on the 26th February found variously, but far, advanced in their 

 pregnancy ; that the males are more numerous than the females in a 

 high proportion, or from \ to \ more ; that the females bring forth only 

 a single young one at a time, not one instance of double gestation 

 occurring among my numerous specimens ; and, lastly, that no other 

 species dwells mixedly with this Megaderme, though a species of true 

 Bat of diminutive size was found tenanting the same house, and the two 

 were observed to issue forth at night from their respective and distinct 

 domiciles simultaneously, and so as constantly to cross each other in 

 their flight, a flight sustained by both with equal power, yet without any 

 aggression of the larger on the smaller kind. 



Having said so much of the manners of our animal I proceed to its 

 form and structure, merely premising that I think it is a true Mega- 

 derme, although its phalangial system is apparently irreconcileable with 

 Cuvier's general or Geoffroy's particular definitions in that respect,* 

 for it has two bony phalanges to the thumb, two also to the index, and 

 three to each of the remaining fingers. In other respects it is a com- 

 plete Megaderme and a striking examplar of a Genus of Bats, which, 

 though diifused throughout the plains of India, is absolutely unknown 

 in the mountains, at least on the sub-Himalayas. The Megadermes 



* See Regne animal, Vol. II, pp. 7 and 10, Vol. V. p. 74, Nat. Libr. Vol. XII. I, p. 

 123, and Vol. VII. p. 74. So far as my observation of the Family of Bats goes the phalan- 

 gial system of our specimen is unique, and, should it prove so, the type might be deno- 

 minated Eucheira. 



5 /. 



