92 
THE MAMMALS OE EGYPT. 
It may be noticed, in passing, that two other species of Epomophorus, viz. E. anurus, 
Heuglin and E. pusillus, Peters 2 , occur in the Bahr el Ghazal region. 
Eats on the Monuments. 
Bats apparently were very seldom represented on the Monuments; indeed, the only 
instances of their occurrence as yet recorded are from Beni Hasan ^ in one and the 
same tomb, viz. that of Baqt, who was Monarch of the Gazelle Nome early in the 
Xllth Dynasty. They occur on the north wall of the chamber in a row commencing 
wdth several birds, then an unmistakable bat-figure with outstretched wings, followed 
by a very broken-up figure, unrecognizable, but of Avhich Rosellini ^ makes a restoration 
as a bat with folded wings, in his plate of this part of the tomb ; another bat with 
outstretched wings again occurs, but considerably smaller than the first. The birds 
are continued immediately to the right of the bats; the position of this line of figures 
is above a row of fishermen in boats, with many kinds of fish in the waters represented 
beneath them. The illustration given of the scene by the Egypt Exploration Fund 
(Beni Hasan, ii.) is very minute in its details, but shows well the environment of the 
bat-figures. 
Outline tracings of the Bvo bats, of exact size, were copied for my use, by favour 
of Mr. Griffith, from a collection of full-sized tracings which Mr. Newberry had made 
for the ‘Survey’ of the Egypt Exploration Fund, preserved in their office hut not 
published. These have enabled me to give the exact measurements of the figures. 
The larger of the bats Avith Avings outstretched measures 530 mm. from tip to tip, and 
the smaller one 270 mm. 
Over the first of these figures the following hieroglyphs 
are painted, Avhich Mr. Griffith informs me may be rendered 
‘ S’hmw" ’ (‘ Sakhemu ’) : 
and over the second are the hieroglyphs p p ^ _ _ Avhich may be rendered 
‘D’gy’ (‘Dagy’ or ‘Degy’), probably meaning “concealed” or the “hider,” and so 
appropriate to the habits of this animal. 
These ancient figures represent Bats of the family Pteropodidse. It is possible that 
they may have been intended for the common frugivorous bat of LoAver and Middle 
Egypt, Eousettus oegyptiacus, but this is a mere speculation: no more explicit statement 
can be hazarded regarding this artistic venture of 4000 years ago. 
The figure of the larger bat has been reproduced by Gervais ^ about six times less 
than the representation in situ, under his description of the “ Genre Eousette.'’’ 
1 Nov. Act. Ac. Leop.-Carol. Nat. Cur. v. xxxi. 1864, p. 12; Matschie, Megachirop. 1899, p. 54. 
2 MB. Ak. Berl. 1867, p. 870 ; Matschie, op. cit. p. 58. 
^ Beni Hasan, part ii. (Tomb 15) plate iv. ^ Bosellini, Mon. Civ. pi. xiv. figs. 4-6. 
® Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes, i. (1854) p. 186. 
