12 



MAMMALOGY. 



becoming familiar with some of the bats belonging to the genus Ptero- 

 pus (Roussettes of the French naturalists). In the Friendly, Feejee, 

 and Samoan or Navigator's Islands, they are numerous, each group 

 having its peculiar species. Their spectral appearance is one of the 

 characteristics in the wild and varied scenery ; their strong odor taints 

 the atmosphere of the otherwise fragrant forests, and will always be 

 remembered by persons who have visited their native haunts. 



" The Pteropi are all more or less gregarious, most active in twilight, 

 and when at rest, hang from the branches of trees with their heads 

 downwards, using their wings as cloaks to shelter their bodies from 

 the wind, rain, or sun. When they fly, as they have no interfemoral 

 membrane, they hold their two hind feet together, which makes them 

 appear to have a tail. They climb with great facility along the under 

 side of the branches, and are very destructive to both wild and culti- 

 vated fruits, tasting and rejecting until the ripest and best are found. 

 We never heard any species accused of destroying animal life. 

 The species of Australia are migratory, being seen only in those 

 seasons when peaches and other fruits are ripe and abundant, but of 

 them we did not obtain specimens. 



At Singapore, we obtained some skins from the Malay peninsula, 

 which are supposed to be P. javanicus, Desmarest, or P. edulis, Cuvier. 

 They have a very small false molar tooth in the upper jaw, which, it 

 seems, has not been observed in the specimens from the Island of Java. 

 A specimen from that island was kept alive in the Philadelphia 

 Museum for several years. It was perfectly tame and gentle towards 

 persons whom it knew, but disliked strangers. During the voyage 

 from Batavia to Philadelphia, it was fed on boiled rice sweetened 

 with sugar, and on its arrival at the Museum, eat every kind of fruit 

 that happened to be in season, and once in a while was indulged in 

 picking the bones of a boiled fowl, which it did with avidity. It was 

 always most active in the morning and evening, and slept at noon and 

 midnight, never resting in any other position than with its head down- 

 wards, hanging by its hind feet." 



