TEE INDIAN FLYING FOX. 
269 
These animals thrive remarkably well in their rather confined cages in the Monkey House, where, 
unfortunately, they have no opportunity of displaying their activity on the wing ; but the visitor may 
see their usual attitude in repose, suspended by their hind feet, and with their wings wrapped round 
them like a cloak, whilst the fact of their curtain being lifted is always sufficient to disturb some of 
them, and induce them to turn their sharp little noses and bright eyes in the direction of the intruder, 
and to utter the little querulous cry which seems to indicate their objection to being disturbed. 
At night, however, they become more active, crawling briskly about their cage, and quarrelling 
vigorously among themselves 
for the choice morsels of their 
food. They also breed freely 
ill their prison (especially the 
African species). The young 
African Fruit Bats born in 
the Zoological Gardens were 
covered with short, smooth 
hair of a nearly uniform pale 
ash-colour, a little darker towards the tips. Only one was produced at a time, and this clung by its 
hind claws to the lower part of the body of the mother, with its mouth usually attached to one of the 
two nipples situated on the breast, as shown in the figure on the next page. The young Fruit Bats 
born in confinement may be brought up, as Mr. Bartlett tells us, to display some fondness for the person 
who takes care of them and feeds them. They will then, if let loose, crawl about upon him, and even 
mount upon his shoulder and demonstrate their affection by licking his face after the fashion of a Dog. 
In the uneducated state, however, they bite viciously. 
REPRESENTATION OP A IK LIT HAT ON AN EGYPTIAN MONUMENT. 
THE INDIAN FLYING FOX * 
Southern Asia and its dependent islands may be regarded as the metropolis of the Fruit Bats. 
Here the species are most plentiful, and most numerously represented by individuals ; it is here also 
that the largest species occur. One of the best-known is the Indian Flying Fox ( P ter opus medius), 
some account of the habits of which, from the pen of Sir J arnes Tennent, has already been given ; and 
this species inhabits the whole of Hindostan, with the exception of the Punjab, Ceylon, Arracan, 
Tenasserim, and Pegu. It has been described by most writers under the name of P. Edwo/rdsii , having 
been erroneously identified with a species inhabiting Madagascar and South-Eastern Africa. It 
measures about eleven inches in length, t and more than three feet in expanse of wing. As in all 
species of the typical genus P ter opus, of which it is the sole representative in the Indian peninsula, 
the tail in P. medius is entirely deficient, the tongue is of moderate size, and the molar teeth well 
developed — five on each side in the upper, and six in the lower jaw ; the nostrils project, and are 
separated by a deep notch ; the wing-membranes spring from the sides of the back, and are attached 
to the back of the first joint of the second toe ; and the head and nape of the neck are covered with 
fur of a different colour from that of the rest of the upper part of the body. The latter is blackish or 
dark brown, with scattered greyish hairs. The nape of the neck and shoulders, the chest, and upper 
part of the abdomen are variable in colour from reddish-yellow or straw-colour to dingy rusty brown, 
the fur of the under surface being darker than that of the nape, and all the light tints darker in the 
females than in the males. The latter have usually a tuft of stiff hairs, of a light reddish-yellow 
colour, on each side of the neck. The ears, which are nearly naked, are acutely pointed, with the 
outer border concave just below the tip ; the wing-membrane is dark brown, hairy beneath towards 
the body. 
This species is referred to by nearly all writers on Indian zoology ; but their accounts of its 
general habits agree closely with those given by Sir James Tennent, and already quoted. The Bats 
feed on fruits of various kinds, except oranges, according to Mr. Jerdon, and besides figs they are 
especially fond of the annonads, particularly the fruit of Gualteria longifolia , the soft parts of which 
* Pteropus medius . f Colonel Sykes states that he had met with individuals more than fourteen inches long. 
35 
