CHEIROMELES TORQUATUS. 
I have designed for the present article one of the subjects which have been 
added to the Museum of the Honourable East India Company, by the researches of 
Dr. George Finlayson. The various Vespertilionida* enumerated in the journals 
which were kept by this meritorious Naturalist, during the mission of John Crawfurd, 
Esq. to Siam, Cochin-China, and the Indian Archipelago, were collected in Penang 
and Singapore. The chief notices concerning them relate to the places where they 
were discovered, as the examination was deferred to a period of rest and leisure. 
Since the lamented decease of Dr. Finlayson, a liberal provision has been made by 
the Honourable Court of Directors, for arranging and exposing to view his collections; 
and I trust that the description of the new and interesting subjects will prove the 
zeal and industry of the collector. As a native of the Indian Archipelago, the 
Cheiromeles torquatus belongs with propriety to the limits of these Researches. 
In its physiognomy our animal bears* considerable resemblance to Molossus, and, 
on first view, it was considered as a species of this genus; but a more careful 
examination soon brought to light its peculiar characters. The singular structure of 
the foot, or rather of the podarium, according to Illiger's language, which in the 
posterior members has the character and properties of a hand, has suggested the name 
of Cheiromeles, from x*'? mantis, and ^eXor membrum. 
The entire length of the specimen of the Cheiromeles torquatus which is 
now before me, is five inches and one half. The extent of the wings is nearly two 
feet. The head is long, somewhat cylindrical in its posterior portion, very slightly 
rounded above, and terminated by a long conical muzzle, the extremity of which 
projects nearly half an inch beyond the lower jaw. The summit of the skull is 
marked in the middle with a distinct prominent longitudinal ridge, and the rostrum 
has throughout its entire length a deep groove, which forms at the extremity a small 
notch between the nostrils. The nose consists of two tubes, of considerable length, 
and somewhat muscular, at the end of which the nostrils are placed. These are simple, 
orbicular and tumid, and the external aperture is directed forward. The upper lips 
are simple, fleshy, thick, almost naked, and bordered with delicate and somewhat 
rigid hairs. The lower jaw is broad and obtuse at its termination. The rostrum is 
marked above, on each side, with three small fascicles of short, stiff bristles, conical 
and glandular at the base, rigid and spinous at the point. They are arranged 
successively, in opposite pairs, at the extremity, in the middle, and near the base of 
the ears ; a similar fascicle of bristles, with glandular bases, is situated on each side 
of the lower jaw, near its extremity. The ears have comparatively a posterior 
