u 
MAMMALIA. 
[Chap. I. 
carry off their tiny prey within the glitter of the lamps. 
Including the frugivorous section about sixteen species 
have been identified in Ceylon; and remarkable va- 
rieties of two of these are peculiar to the island. The 
colours of some of them are as brilliant as the plumage 
of a bird, bright yellow, deep orange, and a rich ferru- 
ginous brown inclining to red. 1 
But of all the bats, the most conspicuous from its 
size and numbers, and the most interesting from its 
habits, is the rousette of Ceylon 2 ; — the " flying fox," as 
it is called by Europeans, from the similarity to that 
animal in its head and ears, its bright eyes, and intel- 
ligent little face. In its aspect it has nothing of the 
disagreeable and repulsive look so common amongst the 
ordinary vespertilionidae ; it likewise differs from them 
in the want of the nose-leaf, as well as of the tail. In 
the absence of the latter, its flight is directed by means 
of a membrane attached to the inner side of each of the 
hind legs, and kept distended at the lower extremity 
by a projecting bone, just as a fore-and-aft sail is dis- 
tended by a " gaff." 
In size the body measures from ten to twelve inches in 
length, but the arms are prolonged, and especially the 
metacarpal bones and phalanges of the four fingers over 
which the leathery wings are distended, till the alar 
expanse measures between four and five feet. Whilst 
the function of these metamorphosed limbs in sustain- 
ing flight entitles them to the designation of " wings," 
they are endowed with another faculty, the existence of 
1 Bhinolophus affinis ? var. ru- Hipposideros speoris, var. aureus, 
bidus, Kelaart. 
Hipposideros murinus, var. ful- 
vus, Kelaart. 
Kelaart. 
Kerivoula pieta, Pallas. 
Scotophilus Heathii, Horsf. 
2 Pteropus Edwardsii, Geoff. 
