1917.] Lang and Chapin, Distribution and Ecology of African Chiroptera. 479 



PART II. NOTES ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY OF 

 CENTRAL AFRICAN CHIROPTERA. 



By Herbert Lang and James P. Chapin. 



These notes are written with the desire of encouraging interest in the bats of 

 equatorial Africa, so that those residing or traveling there may be enabled to recog- 

 nize many of the species and make additions to their life-histories. Our results give 

 a fair idea of how many forms may still be awaiting scientific description; and a 

 glance at the literature shows, furthermore, that comparatively little is known about 

 their habits. 



Small bats need little preparation, since they can be placed in fairly strong alcohol, 

 after having their abdomen opened; and, if the alcohol is changed before shipping, 

 no fear of deterioration need be entertained. The preparation of skins as practised 

 by mammalogists demands some experience. 



Our work of collecting systematically started only after we reached Stanleyville, 

 about 1200 miles inland. During five years of uninterrupted field-work in the north- 

 eastern section of the Belgian Congo, the gathering of larger mammals and birds 

 formed the main object of the Congo Expedition. Therefore we could never devote 

 as much time to the study of bats as we should have liked. We profited, however, 

 by every opportunity to increase the scope of our collections and to gather data for a 

 general zoological survey. Our efforts with regard to Chiroptera were well repaid, 

 as shown by the list of species in the collection (antea, pp. 405-478). 



Bats were collected in 27 localities, which of course include a hundred 

 or more camps and villages within a radius of from 30 to 40 miles of each 

 place. It may be interesting to state that out of the 68 species only 6 were 

 gathered in areas where we spent little time or could not make special 

 efforts. These localities are Cape Lopez, Boma, Malela, Thysville, Leo- 

 pold ville and Kinshasa; all situated near the West Coast. Three of these 

 forms — from Boma, Malela and Kinshasa — are described for the first 

 time in this paper. All the other species — 62 out of the 68, with 29 newly 

 discovered forms — are from only 12 localities (see pp. 410-413), extending 

 from Stanleyville northeastward to Aba, a distance, as the crow flies, of 

 not quite 450 miles. Since a few other bats have already been recorded 

 from these regions, such an abundance of different forms across a fairly 

 small territory reveals the ideal conditions offered to Chiroptera in Central 

 Africa. (See Map, p. 415.) 



Not only is the possession of flight an exceptional feature among Mam- 

 malia, but it has always been considered such an effective method of loco- 

 motion that zoogeographers excluded bats in drawing their conclusions. 



