52 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY, 
yellow ; on each flank there is a atch of rufous, The ears and the 
wing membranes are naked an of a deep purplish black. The 
wings extend from the fore to the hind legs. They do not consist 
of feathers as in birds, but of a membraneous skin extending from the 
neck and sides of the body to the extremity of the fingers of each 
upper limb and behind to the heels of the feet. The fingers are 
lengthened and vary in size to suit the expanded condition of the 
elastic skin, which unites them. The thumb is hooked to enable the 
creature to cling to a branch. The claws are black, they become 
horny at the tip. Captain Hunter, in his Historical Journal of the 
Transactions at Port Jackson, 1791, says:—‘‘ The head of this bat 
resembles that of the fox, and the wings of many of them extend 
three feet ten inches. Governor Philip saw one which measured 
upwards of four feet from the tip of each wing. From the numbers 
which fell into the hoie, at Rose Hill, the water was tainted for 
several days, the natives having fired the country around, it was 
supposed that more than 20,000 were seen within the space of a 
mile.” 
Habits. —The flying fox remains during the day suspended from 
the branches of the larger trees clothing the gullies and their moun- 
tainous sides. Like all other bats it is strictly nocturnal; at night- 
fall it sallies forth in search of its food. The diminution of the 
aboriginals—its natural foes—and the introduction of English trees 
have tended to increase its numbers. The enormous numbers, that 
during the heat of the day may be seen sleeping pendent from the 
trees in the more secluded parts of the forest, are beyond concep- 
tion. No one of the native animals is more troublesome to the 
settlers than this huge bat. It resorts to the gardens, orchards and 
homesteads by night, when it being impossible to protect them from _ 
its attacks, great havoc is committed. It has been observed that 
they congregate in companies and selecting large trees for their re- 
sort, suspend themselves by the claws of their hind limbs to the 
naked branches. They thus pass the greater portion of the day in 
sleep ; but soon after sunset they gradually quit their hold and pur- 
sue their nocturnal flight in quest of food, ‘hey direct their course 
by an unerring instinct to the localities in which fruit is produced. 
Their flight is slow and steady, pursued in a straight line, and 
capable of long continuance. It is one of the few indigenous 
mammals that still appear in the vicinity of the capitals. On 
summer nights, when moonlight, it may be seen hovering over the 
parks and gardens of the suburbs. A naturalist residing near Bris- 
bane writes thus :—‘‘ Attention is generally attracted to them (just 
as daylight disappears) by the heavy flapping of their wings, as 
they fly in great numbers overhead, all in the same direction. These 
flights often continue to pass for many hours together on the way to 
their feeding places—these are generally about the banks of rivers, 
where the tree known as the flooded gum grows, on the leaves of 
which they feed. Though scattered over a fare extent of country 
at night, they all contrive to assemble again to spend the heat of the 
day together, and when the flight is large the scene of the congrega~ 

