EOUSETTUS ^GTPTIACUS. 
91 
Attention is here called to these facts, as in the most recent work on the Mega- 
chiroptera ^ all of these forms, and others equally requiring to be distinguished as at 
least of subspecific rank, have been referred to B. amjplexicaudatus. The study of 
these Asiatic Chiroptera is beset with difficulties, but it would seem that the term 
R. amplexicaudatus should be restricted to the insular bats just indicated, and that the 
term B. lesclienaultii, Desm., should embrace under it the bats of the southern parts of 
the Asiatic continent westward from Burma. 
The large fruit-eating bat Bousettus {Pteropus) stramineus (E. Geotfr. St.-Hil.) ^ has 
been recorded from the Upper Nile region (Sennaar, Kordofan, and White Nile) under 
a diversity of names. 
Botta was the first to obtain it at Sennaar, as recorded by Temminck Among the 
names under which it appears in zoological literature may be mentioned Pterocyon 
paleaceus, Peters, Xantharpyia leucomelas, Pitzinger, and X. j)almarum, Heuglin. 
According to the last-mentioned author, this bat lives in companies, or in pairs, on the 
Doleb palm (Borassus cethiopicus). It can see extremely well in daylight, but, as a rule, 
keeps hidden away under the withered leaves of the palms until dusk; it is always 
awake and stirring on moonlight nights. It usually emits a peculiar cry when it turns 
quickly on the wing or settles down on a palm-tree. Heuglin relates that a specimen 
which he had captured and had placed in a small cage made of palm-leaves, in the 
absence of any better means of confinement, was put in its cage inside a packing-case 
at night for safety; at dusk it bustled about in its narrow prison, squeaking and 
screaming. The noise it made attracted many of its fellows on the wing, who flew 
vigorously and furiously against the box, swooping down upon it like birds of prey. 
The food of this species consists almost exclusively of the fruit of the Doleb palm, on 
which it so gorges itself that it can be easily knocked down. 
The genus EpomopJiorus, or Epauletted Fruit-Bats, the members of which are 
all fawn-coloured, is represented in the region of the Atbara and White Nile by a 
single species, P. labiatus (Temminck) It has also been recorded from the valley of 
the Bellages in the Sennaar district by Heuglin. It has been mentioned by Hartmann ^ 
under the name of Pteropus whitei, Bennett. This species flies by day as well as by 
night, and lives principally on figs, bananas, and the fruits of Cordice. 
^ Matschie, Megachirop. Berl. Mus. 1899, p. 67. 
2 Ann. du Mus. xv. 1810, p. 95; Sundv. K. Yet.-Ak. Handl. Stockh. 1843, p. 198; Peters, MB. Ak. 
Berl. 1861, p. 423. 
® Monogr. Mamm. ii. 1835-41, p. 84. 
^ Monogr. Mamm. ii. 1837, p. 83, pi. 39; Matschie, Megachirop. 1899, p. 54. 
® Zeitschr. Ges. Erdk. Berl. iii. 1868, p. 40. 
