TAPHOZOUS PEKPOEATUS. 
139 
greyish or paler on the rest of the under side, especially on the wing-membrane and the 
lower portion of the abdomen and on the interfemoral membrane. The basal two- 
thirds of the fur are white, the terminal third brown. Membranes greyish brown, limbs 
pale reddish brown. 
This species is an inhabitant of the tombs of the ancient Egyptians, and of recesses 
in rocks, and is occasionally met with in small caverns in the rocky desert. In some 
of the larger tombs it occurs in great numbers. E. Geotfroy St.-Hilaire discovered it in 
the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes and in the deep recesses of the Temple of Kom- 
Ombo. Since his day it has been observed in the Pyramids of Gizeh, in the tombs at 
Beni Hasan, and in small caverns in the desert to the south-east of Philae, at Dongola, 
and Sennaar; and it also extends into Southern Arabia (Aden). 
T. perforatus is distinguished from T. maurUianus, E. Geoffr. St.-Hilaire, by its more 
triangularly pointed snout, smaller ears with a more or less papillate inner margin, 
smaller feet, broad club-shaped tragus, and different coloration. In both of these 
species the radio-metacarpal pouch is fairly well developed, whereas in T. nudiveyitris, 
Cretz., also, distinguished by very large feet, this pouch is usually small. 
In Dobson’s Catalogue ^ only three specimens in the collection of the British 
Museum were referred to T. perforatus, and it is noteworthy that they were not from 
Egypt, the region whence the species was described by E. Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, but 
from West Africa. I am led to make this remark because the Egyptian and Suakin 
bats herein described do not fully agree with Dobson’s description, which undoubtedly 
was founded either wholly or partially on these specimens from West Africa. Dobson 
characterized the males of his T. perforatus as having a large gular sac, whereas in 
my Egyptian specimens that structure does not exist, and in Geoffrey’s description of 
the species no reference is made to its presence. However, in the area behind the 
chin which the sac should occupy there is a feeble ti ansverse fold of skin in the 
Egyptian specimens, but nothing more. 
There is also another point in which the Egyptian bats differ from Dobson’s account 
of T. perforatus, as he says that the wing-membrane arises from the tibia about ^ of an 
inch above the ankle and that consequently it starts from the middle of the tibia. In 
Geoffroy’s figure the wing-membrane is represented arising between the ankle and the 
dorsum of the foot, which is exactly what occurs in my specimens. The position of 
attachment of the wung-membrane to the ankle is subject to slight variations, but. 
not to the extent that would have to be accepted were these bats to be regarded as 
specifically identical with the West-African bats described by Dobson. 
In Dobson’s Catalogue, there is no reference to the “ Lerot-volant,” first described by 
Daubenton who received it from Adanson, who had obtained it in Senegal. E. Geoffroy 
^ Cat. Chirop. B. M. 1878, p. 383. 
2 Hist, Acad. Eoj. des Sc. (annee 1759), 1765, Mem. p. 386. 
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