H. Sauter's Formosa- Ausbeute. Nycteribiidae. 



93 



is established beyond doubt: but the more complete descriptions, 

 and the figures, are under the Synonyms. 



It may be remarked that Nycteribiidae are quite unfitted for 

 being preserved dry, the shrinkage that occurs, especially in the $, 

 being often so great that essential features become unrecognisable. 

 Only when a large series of a species is obtained may some speci- 

 mens be mounted dry; in all other cases they should be preserved 

 in alcohol. It would also be well for entomologists to refrain from 

 describing new species from one aspect only — i. e., dorsal or 

 ventral surface alone — and also to refrain as far as possible from 

 describing them from only one sex. 



Geographical Distribution. The five species include 

 no novelties, but from a geographical point of view they are very 

 interesting. The following is a summary of their areas of distri- 

 bution to far as at present known: 



Penicillidia dufouri: Europe, North Africa, Formosa. 



Penicillidia jenynsi: Ceylon, Sumatra, China, Formosa. 



Nycteribia (Listropodia) allotopa: Ceylon, Sumatra, China, 

 Formosa. 



Nycteribia {Listropodia) parvula: Ceylon, Sumatra, Formosa. 



Nycteribia (Listropodia) pedicularia : Europe, North Africa, 

 South Africa, Formosa. 



Thus it appears that, so far as is known, three of the species 

 are Oriental: Penicillidia dufouri is principally Palaearctic: and 

 Nycteribia pedicularia seems to be very wide-spread, being widely 

 distributed in the Palaearctic Region and also recorded from South 

 Africa. There is perhaps an overlapping of Palaearctic and Oriental 

 forms in Formosa. The island itself lies in the Oriental Region: it 

 is crossed by the Tropic of Cancer, and its lofty mountains give 

 it a variety of tropical and temperate climates. The species of 

 Nycteribiidae herein discussed were not, however, found in separate 

 localities, but specimens of all were found together in the same 

 locality, and almost all the material is from the neighbourhood of 

 two towns — Anping and Tainan — in the one case on, and in the 

 other quite near, the Western Coast. The host-bat of all the For- 

 mosan specimens of these species is Miniopterus schreibersi Natterer, 

 a species which, sensu lato, is very widely-distributed, being known 

 from all the warmer regions of the Old World, and from Australia. 

 The present writer inclines to the belief that many species of 

 Nycteribiidae will prove to be very wide-ranging, which would not 

 be surprising in view of the distributional powers of their hosts. 



In the introductory remarks of my earlier paper (op. cit., 

 pp. 359, 360) I noted that Nycteribiidae of different genera and 

 species were found not only on the same bat-species but on the 

 same bat-individual. The examination of Sauter's whole collection 

 shows that this is a perfectly common occurrence, in the case of 

 Miniopterus schreibersi at least. This State of things is quite 



8. Holt 



