QUADRUMANA. 



11 



Pteropus voci/erus, Peale,* Zool. U. S. Exp. Exp. Vincennes, Quadrupeds, p. 19 

 (1st ed. 1848). 



Though very considerable difficulties present themselves in the in- 

 vestigation of the animals of this genus, we have no doubt of the 

 identity of the species as above referred to. 



In allusion to this bat, Mr. Peale observes : 



"At the Island of Mangsi, in the Straits of Balabac, our atten- 

 tion was arrested by the constant screams of this animal, which 

 sounded like the distress cry of a Norway rat, but louder, and soon 

 led us to its diurnal resting-places, which were found to be amongst 

 the lofty 1-oots of a species of banyan or fig tree, fifty feet from the 

 ground. There, secreted in holes or sometimes suspended, they 

 spend the day, not quietly, but in constant quarrels, at the season we 

 saw them, which was in the month of February, and the strong odor 

 emitted by them was quite perceptible to us when passing the trees 

 which they frequented," 



Mr. Peale gives the following in relation to the habits and general 

 history of the animals of this genus : 



" In the course of a long and laborious voyage among the islands 

 of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, we had frequent opportunities of 



* " Hair of the head, neck, and body, soft, woolly, and of a rufous brown color, 

 darkest on the sides; back, dark brown, the hair short, straight, and smooth. Wings 

 gray in the middle, the bloodvessels darker and distinctly visible ; snout long, narrow ; 

 the nostrils bifurcated; cheek-pouches spacious ; no visible scrotum. Irides brown. 



"Total length from the end of the nose to the anus, eight inches ; extent of the wings, 

 thirty-four and a half inches; forearm, four and seven-tenths inches; thumb, including 

 the nail, two and three-tenths inches; nail, seven-tenths of au inch ; ear, one inch long, 

 three-quarters of an inch wide. Male. 



"Dental formula: incisors, |; canines, |; molars, = 34." (Peale, as above.) 



CRANIUM OF P. MACKI.OTII. 



