HORN EXPEDITION—MAMMALIA. 
3 
(3) Chiroptera. —The most striking form amongst the bats is the large Mega- 
derma gigas^ Dobson. It is very local in its distribution, and, like many other forms 
in Central Australia, the numbers in which it occurs vary from season to season. 
Usually it is to be easily secured hiding during the day time in a cave amongst the 
McDonnell Ranges near to Alice Springs, but at the time of our visit this cave had 
been partially tilled up and the bats had taken refuge somewhere else, so that only 
a single specimen was obtained. The size and general grey-white colour of the 
animal, together with the pink tinge on the ears and nose leaf, render it a striking 
object when seen alive. 
The commonest form of bat which is met with everywhere Hying about at 
evening is Nictophilus timoriensis. 
(4) Marsiipialia. —Of the si.x families found in Australia five are represented 
in the central area. One (Notoryctidaj) is represented by a single genus and 
species and is confined to it; another, Phalangeridte, is represented by a single 
species, while the family Phascolomyidpe is not represented. 
The exact northern limit of Fhascolomys latifrons is not defined, but aj)parently 
its distribution does not extend into the more northern parts of South Australia. 
The most northerly recorded locality is apparently Port Augusta. 
The absence of the Phalangeridm—except in regard to the ubiquit(jus Tricho- 
surus vulpeciila, the common so-called opossum—is easily understood, as the family 
is distinctly an arboreal one, inhabiting, as a general rule, well wooded districts 
where the rainfall is more regular than in Central Australia. The cojumon 
Trichosuriis vulpecida is probably the most widely-dispersed of all the Australian 
marsupials, and the most able—^^judging from the way in which it does so—to adapt 
itself to varying conditions of environment, though as yet it has not been recorded 
from the York Peninsula. 
Except as forming a fringe for the river* beds in Central Australia there is 
no real woodland district, and hence it is not surpi'ising that the family Phalan- 
geridte, which is especially a woodland one, is scarcely represented in the interior. 
With the single exception of Notoryctes typhlops mentioned above, there cannot 
be said to be any important marsupial type which is confined to the Eremian 
region. 
» It may be as well to say that the rivers which fif^ure in maps of Central Australia only “run” at considerable 
interval.s of time, between which—except for rare water-holes—they are perfectly dry. 
