ON THE STANDING OF PTEROPUS HALDEMANI 
HALOWELL. 
JAMES A. G. REHN. 
In 1846 Halowell described a species of Pteropus from West 
Africa as P. haldemani (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sct. Phila., Vol. III, 
p. 52); this species has generally been overlooked. Several 
years ago Mr. Paul Matschie of the Berlin Museum fiir Natur- 
kunde resurrected the species (Sttzungs-Bericht der Gesellschaft 
naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin, 1899, Nr. 2, p. 30) and 
made the rather startling assertion that it was based on a young 
example of Hypsignathus monstrosus H. Allen (Proc. Acad. Nat. 
Sci. Phila., 1861, p. 156). In his recent monographic work 
(Die Megachiroptera des Berliner Museum fiir Naturkunde, p. 42) 
Mr. Matschie repeats his previous views. As Mr. Matschie did 
not examine the types of either P. haldemani or H. monstrosus, 
his conclusions were formed entirely from a description which 
gave no idea of the cranial or palatal characters. 
The types of both species are contained in the collection of 
the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and on exami- 
nation the writer finds that Mr. Matschie's conclusions are not 
sustained by the specimens. 
The type of Pzeropus haldemani consists of an alcoholic skin 
from which the skull had never been detached, and on removal 
the latter is found to be quite typical of the genus Epomophorus, 
and in no way closely related to Hypsignathus. The molars are 
low and slightly grooved as in Epomophorus and lack the lateral 
cusps characteristic of Hypsignathus. The skull and the exter- 
nal aspect of the head exhibit no trace of the extraordinary club- 
like development observed in the last-mentioned genus, which 
would surely be appreciable even in a young individual. — . 
The structure of the palate agrees exactly with Epomophorus 
gambianus Ogilby (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1835, p. 100) as 
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