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Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXXVII, 



the accessible part, and the water with but little noise disappeared at once 

 in a chaotic mass of boulders. Sometimes the smooth overhanging walls 

 form large and rugged chambers about 100 feet in height, but everywhere 

 the walls are a dull black. We soon realized that this cave belonged to the 

 bats alone, for there was hardly any room for creatures that could not cling 

 high above its floor. The annual floods would completely close the narrow 

 passages between the obstructing boulders, and inrushing gravel-bearing 

 torrents then scour all the horizontal shelves near the bottom. In spite of 

 the great numbers of bats, only a fine layer of moist guano that exhaled a 

 strong alkaline stench was scattered everywhere, and over it hopped a few 

 pale cave-crickets. We also found a few snails, spiders, and ants, but of 

 species common outside the cave. We had been told of the wonders of this 

 cave, of its remarkable fossils, which proved to be simple erosions, of its 

 great stagnant pools that were however only an inch or two in depth and 

 unsuitable for any aquatic fauna. It was interesting only because of these 

 thousands of bats, even though they all belonged to a single species, Miniop- 

 terus inflatus. 



We had with us two of our old trusted boys, Wawe and Choma-Choma, 

 and proceeded but slowly inside so as to make sure of our way out. Since 

 we were without firearms we wondered how to get the bats ; but as the mani- 

 fold echoes of our voices broke the mystic silence, the cave suddenly became 

 alive. To the great terror of our boys, the "devils" came down upon us. 

 Though the volume of whirring noises was enormous, only a few of the 

 bats encircled our lanterns, like timid scouts who alone dared to inquire into 

 the cause of the unusual disturbance. After catching some with a few lucky 

 strokes of a butterfly net, we were glad to come back again to daylight. 

 Our guides, black messengers of bad omens, cheered up, and we ourselves 

 laughed heartily as we explained to them that according to the white man's 

 superstition we had had bad luck, for we had caught thirteen bats. 



49. Kerivoula cuprosa Thomas. 



At first sight this rather rare species resembles Pipistrellus nanus though 

 it is somewhat larger, being 3.55 inches (90 mm.) in length, with a spread 

 of wing of 10.85 inches (250 mm.). Above, the dark-brown frizzled hair 

 has pale-brown tips that give it a peculiar golden sheen, but when looked 

 at from another angle appears as though singed. The somewhat lighter 

 under side has also pale-tipped fur. One of its distinctive characters is 

 the fine growth of hair on the skin of the upper surface of the limbs. The 

 toes and thumb are especially well covered, and a few scattered hairs extend, 

 to the end of the tail and along the third digit to the tip of the wing. 



They do not seem to frequent native plantations but to live in hollow 



