1917.] 



Lang and Chapin, Field Notes on African Chiroptera. 



523 



20. Rhinolophus abse sp. nov. 



Fur rather long and soft, grayish-brown above, drab on abdomen; wings 

 dusky brown. Outlines of ears and nose-leaves are similar to those of R. 

 hildebrandti eloquens and R. axillaris. Total length, 3.3 inches (84 mm.); 

 tail 1 inch (24 mm.); spread of wings 12.7 inches (320 mm.). 



From our experience in December, 1911, this appeared to be the com- 

 monest Rhinolophus living in the rocky hills about Aba. 



21. Rhinolophus axillaris sp. nov. 

 Plate LI, Fig. 2. 



The specific name refers to the two patches of stiffened rufous hairs, 

 usually found on the sides of the breast, just outside the mammse. Their 

 function is obscure, but in one of our specimens, a male, the hairs are pale 

 yellowish, and a hardened gummy secretion adheres to them. This in- 

 dividual, moreover, is lighter and yellower in the rest of its pelage, being 

 cinnamon on the back, and pale cinnamon-buff below. The five other 

 specimens are gray-brown, similar in color to Rhinolophus aboe. Average 

 measurements are: total length 3.1 inches (79 mm.), tail 1 inch (26 mm.). 



This is not a common species, even at Aba, the only locality from which 

 it is known. Two examples were first captured singly in caves inhabited 

 by other bats, Rhinolophus and Hipposideros; and then three were brought 

 to us by some natives, in a basket containing also specimens of R. abce and 

 R. hildebrandti eloquens. 



Certain of these forms now known only from Aba, may perhaps range 

 southwestward to the hills near Vankerckhovenville, where conditions are 

 very similar. 



22. Hipposideros caffer centralis Andersen. 

 Plate LII, Fig. 1. 



It would be difficult to describe in detail the coloration of the common 

 leaf -nosed bat; so variable is the pelage that different individuals appear to 

 represent distinct species. Some shade of brown is most frequent, with the 

 under surface only slightly lighter, but many are dark brownish-gray 

 (probably young), whereas a few of either sex are of a beautiful bright cin- 

 namon-rufous over the whole body, the flight membranes always remaining 

 brownish-black. 



The ears are comparatively short and wide, dark gray like the nasal 

 outgrowths (Plate LII, Fig. 1). Just above the latter, hidden in the fur 



