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



pronounced in the male (Fig. 14). The hairs moreover are here gathered 

 into many little bunches, whereas in C. chapini they grow singly. 



Mops osborni is larger than the other crested representatives of the 

 family; total length 4.4 inches (111 mm.); tail 1.5 inches (38 mm.); 

 expanse of wings 13.4 inches (340 mm.). Its colors are dull, the flight 

 membranes grayish-brown, the fur of the upper side hair-brown with a 

 sprinkling of gray hairs, the middle of the belly grayish-white, the rest of 

 the lower side having the hair brown with grayish tips. The most impor- 

 tant character is internal : a very high sagittal crest on the skull of the male. 

 Bats in the Congo, however abundant, seldom trouble one's sleep, for 



those that frequent dwellings 

 are generally small and quiet. 

 In all Africa of course there 

 are none that suck blood like 

 the vampires (Desmodonti- 

 dse) of South America. In 

 the Upper Congo even Euro- 

 pean architecture becomes 

 decidedly simple. Aeration 

 being a prime requisite there 

 is often no ceiling below the 

 roof of grass or Phrynium 

 leaves; the whole interior is 

 open. Occasionally such a 

 house when closed for a long 

 period becomes the domicile 

 of a flock of bats; but open 

 the windows wide, admit the 

 light and air, and they depart 

 for good. 



More advanced methods 

 of building, however, often 

 prevail in the more accessible 

 parts of the colony, and these 

 dwellings with their many 

 remote, dark, or unused portions are frequently chosen as a congenial refuge 

 by Chiroptera. A small house, for instance, in which we lodged at Kinshasa, 

 built most comfortably of wood and sheet metal, was provided with a double 

 roof, the space between being ventilated through holes under the eaves, 

 which served at the same time as doorways for a large community of molos- 

 sid bats. Occasional scufflings and squeaks betrayed their retreat, and all 



Fig. 26. Mops (Allomops) osborni, sp. nov. Right foot 

 (type), from below, to show spoon hairs on first and fifth 

 digits (y). a, spoon hair enlarged ( j 4 ). 



