146 



Mammalogy of the Himalayas. 



[July 



it is not improbable that individuals may occasionally wander to the higher 

 and more remote forests of the Central Hills. 



CHEIROPTERA. 



When it is recollected that of the sixteen species of Bats, now known 

 to inhabit the British islands, no fewer than ten have been discovered 

 within the last few years, it will not appear surprising that we should be 

 so imperfectly acquainted with this department of Himalayan Mamma- 

 logy. Mr. Hodgson, indeed, is the only author who has furnished us 

 with any details on the subject : his " Synopsis of th.e Vespertilionidse 

 of Nepal," published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 

 vol. iv. p. 699, contains an enumeration of seven species of Cheiroptera : 

 but, as he himself very candidly observes, his specific identifications 

 must be received with considerable caution, from his want of access to 

 extensive libraries and museums, for the purpose of comparison. Of the 

 two species of Pte7'opus, for instance, which he has there briefly describ- 

 ed under the names of P. leucocephalus and P. pyrivorus, the former 

 does not appear to differ from the P. medius or Edwardsii of ttie Plains ; 

 and the probability of its identity with that species is increased by the 

 fact, which Mr. Hodgson mentions, of its only visiting the temperate 

 regions of Nepal during the autumn, returning of course to the more 

 sultry plains of India on the approach of the cold season. The Pteropus 

 ruhicollis of M\\ M'Clelland's " list of objects of Natural History collected 

 in Assam," is likewise identical with the P. EdwardsiL The only other 

 species of tailless Pteropus known to inhabit the continent of India, 

 Ptei^opus Diissumieri^ is very different in its characters from Ptej^opus 

 w<eJm.<?; and as Dr. Royle brought undoubted specimens of this latter 

 species from the lower hills a little farther west, it is but reasonable to 

 suppose that it is equally common in Nepal, and consequently identical 

 with Mr. Hodgson's animal. The Pteropus pyrivorus, to judge from the 

 short description given by Mr. Hodgson, appears to be less questionably 

 a new species : it belongs to the second section of the genus, having a short 

 tail, partly free and partlj enveloped in the membrane, and derives its spe- 

 cific name from the depredations v/hich it commits among the ripe pears 

 in the central regions of Nepal. The nn'gratory habits .iscribed to these 

 Pferopi are common to the Pteropus poliocephahis of New South Wales, 

 and many other species of the same genus ; for these large frugivorous 

 Cheiroptera are essentially tropical in their habitats, and only visit more 

 temperate climates during the summer and autumn heats, when the ripe 

 fruits tempt them to wander from their native regions. They are conse- 



