Chapter 33

HEAD OF THE KALONG.

Characteristics of Fruit-eating Bats—Distribution—Diet—Flying Fox of Ceylon: its Habits, as described by Sir E. Tennent—The Flight of thePteropidæ—Known to the Ancients—The Fruit Bats in the Zoological Gardens—INDIANFLYINGFOX—Diet—Dissipated Habits—GREATKALONG—Linnæus’s Description—In their Dormitories—NICOBAR, MANED, JAPANESE,ANDGREYFRUITBATS—GREY-HEADEDFRUITBAT—GOULD’SFRUITBAT—ROUSSETTE—EGYPTIANFRUITBAT—HOTTENTOTFRUITBAT—MARITIMEFRUITBAT—MARGINEDFRUITBAT—WHITE’SFRUITBAT—HAMMER-HEADEDBAT—HARPYBAT—GREATERHARPYBAT—CLOAKEDFRUITBAT—DWARFLONG-TONGUEDFRUITBAT—BLACK-CHEEKEDFRUITBAT—FIJIANLONG-TONGUEDFRUITBAT

THEfruit-eating Bats (Frugivora, Wagner), calledMegachiroptera, or Large Bats, by Mr. Dobson, on account of the comparatively large size of most of the species, are characterised by having the face elongated and Dog-like (seeabove illustration)—whence the name of Flying Foxes is often applied to them by European residents in the countries where they occur—the ears simple and usually pointed, but with the sides uniting, so as to form a complete ring at the base, the nose without any leaf-likeappendages, the tail short or altogether deficient, the interfemoral membrane, or the membrane between the legs, which in our ordinary Bats encloses the tail, reduced to very small dimensions, and the molar teeth furnished with flattish crowns, along the middle of which runs a longitudinal furrow (figured below). The free thumb is long, and armed with a strong hooked claw, and the first, or index finger, in nearly all the species, is also terminated by a claw.

FRUIT BATS OF CEYLON AT HOME.❏LARGER IMAGE

FRUIT BATS OF CEYLON AT HOME.

❏LARGER IMAGE

The species of Frugivorous Bats, of which about seventy have been described, agree very closely in their general characters, and constitute a single family, to which the name ofPteropidæhas been given, derived from that of the oldest and most extensive of its genera,Pteropus(wing-foot). They are distributed all over the warmer parts of the Eastern hemisphere and the islands of the Pacific. Wherever they occur, they present nearly the same form, and generally a very similar style of coloration, whilst in their diet they stick most religiously to fruits, for although some have been found in captivity to feed on the flesh of birds and rats, and others are charged with catching and eating fish, in the former case some allowance must be made for the artificial condition of the animal, which probably produced a morbid appetite, heightened by the fact that the supply of his natural food had been exhausted; and the second statement seems to rest exclusively on the observed fact of these Bats on leaving their roosts at sunset skimming close over the surface of water, and sometimes even dipping into it; but the object of these evolutions, as remarked by Mr. Dobson, “is probably, in the first instance, to drink, and, secondly, to rid themselves of some of the numerous parasites with which they are commonly infested.” Sir James Emerson Tennent, however, says of the Ceylonese species, that “insects, caterpillars, birds’ eggs, and young birds are devoured by them; and the Singhalese say that the Flying Fox will even attack a Tree Snake,” but these statements are not confirmed by other writers, and from the reference to the Singhalese, it seems probable that they are founded upon hearsay evidence. Mr. Dobson, however, has suggested that one species (theCynonycteris amplexicaudata) feeds occasionally upon the shell-fish that it finds upon the shore, and in this opinion he is supported by Mr. W. T. Blanford, who found the species upon the island of Kishm, in the Persian Gulf, a spot so barren that he thinks the Bats would starve if they depended upon fruits for their nourishment.

DENTITION OF THE EGYPTIAN FRUIT-BAT.

The habits of the Flying Fox of Ceylon (Pteropus medius) are so well described by Sir James Emerson Tennent, that we may here quote his observations upon that species, especially as they will apply,mutatis mutandis, to the members of the family in general. He says:—“They feed, amongst other things, on the guava, the plantain, the rose-apple, and the fruit of the various fig-trees. Flying Foxes are abundant in all the maritime districts, especially at the season when thepulum-imbul(Eriodendron orientale, Stead.), one of the silk-cotton trees, is putting forth its flower-buds, of which they are singularly fond. By day they suspend themselves from the highest branches, hanging by the claws of the hind-legs, with the head turned upwards, and pressing the chin against the breast. At sunset taking wing, they hover, with a murmuring sound occasioned by the beating of their broad membranous wings, around the fruit-trees, on which they feed till morning, when they resume their pensile attitude as before. [SeePlate 9]

“A favourite resort of these Bats is the lofty india-rubber trees, which on one side overhang the Botanic Gardens of Paradenia, in the vicinity of Kandy. Thither for some years past they have congregated, chiefly in the autumn, taking their departure when the figs of theFicus elasticaare consumed. Here they hang in such prodigious numbers, that frequently large branches give way beneath their accumulated weight. Every forenoon, between the hours of 9 and 11, they take to wing, apparently for exercise, and possibly to sun their wings and fur, and dry them after the dews of the early morning. On these occasions their numbers are quite surprising, flying in clouds as thick asBees or Midges. After these recreations, they hurry back to their favourite trees, chattering and screaming like Monkeys, and always wrangling and contending angrily for the most shady and comfortable places in which to hang for the rest of the day protected from the sun. The branches they resort to soon become almost divested of leaves, these being stripped off by the action of the Bats attaching and detaching themselves by means of their hooked feet. At sunset they fly off to their feeding-grounds, probably at a considerable distance, as it requires a large area to furnish sufficient food for such multitudes.

“In all its movements and attitudes, the action of thePteropusis highly interesting. If placed upon the ground, it is almost helpless, none of its limbs being calculated for progressive motion; it drags itself along by means of the hook attached to each of its extended thumbs, pushing at the same time with those of its hind feet. Its natural position is exclusively pensile; it moves laterally from branch to branch with great ease, by using each foot alternately, and climbs, when necessary, by means of its claws.

“When at rest or asleep, the disposition of the limbs is most curious. At such times it suspends itself by one foot only, bringing the other close to its side, and thus it is enabled to wrap itself in the ample folds of its wings, which must envelop it like a mantle, leaving only its upturned head uncovered. Its fur is thus protected from damp and rain, and to some extent its body is sheltered from the sun.

“As it collects its food by means of its mouth, either when on the wing or when suspended within reach of it, the Flying Fox is always more or less liable to have the spoil wrested from it by its intrusive companions, before it can make good its way to some secure retreat in which to devour it unmolested. In such conflicts they bite viciously, tear each other with their hooks, and scream incessantly, till, taking to flight, the persecuted one reaches some place of safety, when he hangs by one foot, and grasping the fruit he has secured in the claws and opposable thumb of the other, he hastily reduces it to lumps, with which he stuffs his cheek-pouches till they become distended like those of a Monkey. Thus suspended in safety, he commences to chew and suck the pieces, rejecting the refuse with his tongue.” Sir James Emerson Tennent adds that the Flying Fox drinks by lapping, to do which it suspends itself head downwards from a branch above the water.

The flight of thePteropidæis strong and direct, although not very rapid, and they often travel considerable distances in search of favourite articles of food. During flight the hind legs are usually stretched out horizontally, and as the space between them is not, as in most other Bats, filled up by an interfemoral membrane, the animals appear as if they had two stiff tails. Their skin exhales a peculiar odour, which has been sometimes described as “musky,” although the term is hardly applicable to it. This odour, which is supposed to be due to the contamination of the fur with the urine of the animals, strongly pervades their dwelling-places, and unless great care is taken in skinning them their flesh is said to acquire a corresponding taste, which is a matter of some importance, as the larger species constitute a favourite article of food in the countries which they inhabit.

That the ancients were acquainted with some species of these Bats seems pretty certain, as one of them (Cynonycteris ægyptiacus) is common in Egypt, and, in fact, is frequently represented on the monuments of that country (see theengraving on the next page), and Aristotle refers to a tail-less African Bat, which was probably a Flying Fox. The town of Borsippa, in Mesopotamia, is mentioned by Strabo as being haunted by Bats of larger size than any of those known in Europe; and, indeed, that it was so haunted, and that the inhabitants ate these Bats, is nearly all that is definitely known of the town. The species was in all probability either the Egyptian one just referred to, or a nearly allied form (Cynonycteris amplexicaudata), which is known still to inhabit Persia. The Mosaic prohibition of the Bat as an article of food to the Jews also no doubt related to one of these species, which may have been commonly eaten in Egypt or in Syria.

Formerly it was considered a matter of considerable difficulty to keep these Frugivorous Bats alive in captivity, and especially to transport them to Europe; but the latter difficulty has disappeared with increased facilities of locomotion, and several species have been exhibited alive in various menageries and zoological gardens.

REPRESENTATION OF A FRUIT BAT ON AN EGYPTIAN MONUMENT.

The Zoological Society’s beautiful Gardens in Regent’s Park, London, generally contain several examples of the Collared Fruit Bat of South Africa (Cynonycteris collaris). It may be noted thatthese animals thrive remarkably well in their rather confined cages in the Monkey House, where, unfortunately, they have no opportunity of displaying their activity on the wing; but the visitor may see their usual attitude in repose, suspended by their hind feet, and with their wings wrapped round them like a cloak, whilst the fact of their curtain being lifted is always sufficient to disturb some of them, and induce them to turn their sharp little noses and bright eyes in the direction of the intruder, and to utter the little querulous cry which seems to indicate their objection to being disturbed. At night, however, they become more active, crawling briskly about their cage, and quarrelling vigorously among themselves for the choice morsels of their food. They also breed freely in their prison (especially the African species). The young African Fruit Bats born in the Zoological Gardens were covered with short, smooth hair of a nearly uniform pale ash-colour, a little darker towards the tips. Only one was produced at a time, and this clung by its hind claws to the lower part of the body of the mother, with its mouth usually attached to one of the two nipples situated on the breast, as shown in thefigure on the next page. The young Fruit Bats born in confinement may be brought up, as Mr. Bartlett tells us, to display some fondness for the person who takes care of them and feeds them. They will then, if let loose, crawl about upon him, and even mount upon his shoulder and demonstrate their affection by licking his face after the fashion of a Dog. In the uneducated state, however, they bite viciously.

Southern Asia and its dependent islands may be regarded as the metropolis of the Fruit Bats. Here the species are most plentiful, and most numerously represented by individuals; it is here also that the largest species occur. One of the best-known is the Indian Flying Fox (Pteropus medius), some account of the habits of which, from the pen of Sir James Tennent, has already been given; and this species inhabits the whole of Hindostan, with the exception of the Punjab, Ceylon, Arracan, Tenasserim, and Pegu. It has been described by most writers under the name ofP. Edwardsii, having been erroneously identified with a species inhabiting Madagascar and South-Eastern Africa. It measures about eleven inches in length,[147]and more than three feet in expanse of wing. As in all species of the typical genusPteropus, of which it is the sole representative in the Indian peninsula, the tail inP. mediusis entirely deficient, the tongue is of moderate size, and the molar teeth well developed—five on each side in the upper, and six in the lower jaw; the nostrils project, and are separated by a deep notch; the wing-membranes spring from the sides of the back, and are attached to the back of the first joint of the second toe; and the head and nape of the neck are covered with fur of a different colour from that of the rest of the upper part of the body. The latter is blackish or dark brown, with scattered greyish hairs. The nape of the neck and shoulders, the chest, and upper part of the abdomen are variable in colour from reddish-yellow or straw-colour to dingy rusty brown, the fur of the under surface being darker than that of the nape, and all the light tints darker in the females than in the males. The latter have usually a tuft of stiff hairs, of a light reddish-yellow colour, on each side of the neck. The ears, which are nearly naked, are acutely pointed, with the outer border concave just below the tip; the wing-membrane is dark brown, hairy beneath towards the body.

COLLARED FRUIT BAT WITH YOUNG. (From the Proceedings of the Zoological Society.)

This species is referred to by nearly all writers on Indian zoology; but their accounts of its general habits agree closely with those given by Sir James Tennent, and already quoted. The Bats feed on fruits of various kinds, except oranges, according to Mr. Jerdon, and besides figs they are especially fond of the anonads, particularly the fruit ofGualteria longifolia, the soft parts of whichthey devour, rejecting the kernels, with which the ground under the trees is speedily covered. According to Mr. F. Day, the fruit of the wild almond (Terminalia catappa) is also a favourite article of diet with them, and he adds, “they sometimes carry off the almonds into the verandahs of houses, where they extract the kernels, and in so doing frighten nervous people into the belief that robbers are endeavouring to effect an entrance.” In search of these and other favourite fruits, they often fly to great distances during the night, returning with the dawn to their sleeping-places, when a scene of confusion takes place, which has been described as follows by Mr. Tickell:—“From the arrival of the first comer, until the sun is high above the horizon, a scene of incessant wrangling and contention is enacted among them, as each endeavours to secure a higher and better place, or to eject a neighbour from too close vicinage. In these struggles the Bats hook themselves along the branches, scrambling about hand over hand with some speed, biting each other severely, striking out with the long claw of the thumb, shrieking and cackling without intermission. Each new arrival is compelled to fly several times round the tree, being threatened from all points; and when he eventually hooks on he has to go through a series of combats, and be probably ejected two or three times, before he makes good his tenure.” No doubt these squabbles are rendered more violent by the disgracefully dissipated habits in which the Bats indulge during their nocturnal expeditions, for, according to Mr. Francis Day and other observers, “they often pass the night drinking the toddy from the chatties in the cocoa-nut trees, which results either in their returning home in the early morning in a state of extreme and riotous intoxication, or in being found the next day at the foot of the trees sleeping off the effects of their midnight debauch.”

The flesh is said by Colonel Sykes to be delicate, and without disagreeable flavour; but he states that the only persons in Western India who eat these Bats are the Portuguese residents. According to Mr. Jerdon, however, many classes in the Madras presidency also eat them.

This, which is the largest of all known Bats, is an inhabitant of the great islands of the Eastern Archipelago, especially Java and Sumatra, where it exists in immense numbers. The species is also said to occur in the Philippine Islands and in Malacca. It is nearly allied to the Indian Fruit Bat, but grows to a larger size, attaining a length of about fourteen inches, and an expanse of wing of four feet and upwards. The colour varies considerably, but is generally brownish-black on the back, with the top of the head and the neck reddish-yellow, and tinged with chestnut-brown beneath. The muzzle, ears, and wing-membranes are black; the ears are shorter than in the Indian species, and the outer margin is less concave towards the tip; and the wing-membranes originate on the sides of the body at a greater distance from the centre of the back. Some of the varieties have been described as distinct species; two especially, in which the fur is entirely black, figure in the catalogues under the names ofPteropus PlutoandP. funereus.

The Kalong (seenext page) was the first of the Indian Frugivorous Bats to be made known to European naturalists in modern times. It was described under the name ofVespertilio admirabilis, by Bontius, in his “Historia Naturalis Indiæ Orientalis.” The species was also described and figured by Seba and other naturalists of the seventeenth century; but Linnæus, by a curious blunder, confused the references to this and allied species with the stories told of the American Vampire Bats, and described these Eastern fruit-eating forms as constituting a species under the name ofVespertilio vampyrus, the natural history of which he summed up in the following queer paragraph:—“Noctu haurit sanguinem dormientium servorum, cristas gallorum et lacrymas palmarum, phlebotomus felicissimus in pleuritide!” (By night it sucks the blood of sleeping slaves, the combs of cocks, and the juice of palm-trees, a capital lancet in pleurisy!) In its habits it closely resembles its Indian ally, resorting in great numbers to particular trees for the purpose of sleeping through the day, and starting forth at sundown in search of the fruits on which it feeds. Dr. Horsfield describes them as presenting a singular spectacle in their dormitories. “Ranged in succession with the head downwards,” he says, “the membrane contracted about the body, and often in close contact, they have little resemblance to living beings, and by a person not accustomed to their economy are readily mistaken for a part of the tree, or for a fruit of uncommon size suspended from its branches.” He adds that they occasion “incalculable mischief, attacking and devouring indiscriminately every kind of fruit, from the abundant and useful cocoa-nut which surrounds every dwelling of the meanest peasantry, to the rare and most delicate productions which are cultivated with care by princes and chiefs of distinction.” In his history of Sumatra, Mr. Marsden states that he has observed very large flights of these Bats passing at a great height in the air, as if migrating from one country to another; and he adds that Captain Forrest noticed them crossing the Straits of Sunda from Java Head to Mount Pugong. The flesh of this species is eaten by the inhabitants of the countries where it abounds, who thus get some return for the mischief it does in their gardens and plantations. Its specific name (edulis) refers to this circumstance. Its name among the natives of Java is Kalong, and with the Malays of Sumatra and of the peninsula of Malacca Kaluwang, or Kluang.

KALONG.

It will be unnecessary to do more than refer to a few of the numerous species ofPteropusinhabiting the islands of the Eastern seas, as their habits in all cases are almost exactly alike, and it would be useless to attempt the bare description of a number of closely-allied species. The Nicobar and Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal have their peculiar species (P. nicobaricus), about the same size as the Indian Fruit Bat, but of which the females and young males are usually black all over,whilst the male has a reddish or chestnut-coloured tippet. The Philippine Islands have a rather remarkable species, the Maned Fruit Bat (P. jubatus), the head of which is shown in one of our illustrations on thenext page. Japan possesses a smaller form (P. dasymallus), about eight inches long, which is characterised by the woolly nature of its fur, as indicated in its specific name. Those islands of the Eastern Archipelago from Celebes to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands which, according to Mr. Wallace, belong to the great Australian region, are abundantly supplied with fruit-eating Bats, such as the Grey Fruit Bat (P. griseus, seenext page), a small species which inhabits Timor and Amboyna. The small islands scattered over the ocean to the east also possess their peculiar species.

The northern and eastern parts of Australia are inhabited by a large species ofPteropus, the Grey-headed Fruit Bat (P. poliocephalus). This Bat measures about a foot long, and has an expanse of wing of about three feet. The head, cheeks, and throat are ash-grey, with a few scattered black hairs; the nape, part of the front of the neck, and the shoulders are bright reddish-brown, and separated by a black band from the grey fur of the body. These Bats, according to Dr. Bennett, are found ingreat numbers about Moreton Bay and the northern districts of New South Wales. They could be observed “hanging in dense clusters from the uppermost branches of the lofty gum and other trees, which often bend so much under the weight, that the spectator is in momentary expectation of their breaking off with a crash, and falling to the ground encumbered with their heavy load of Bats.” The same observer remarks that, although their regular activity is crepuscular and nocturnal, they occasionally seek food for a short time during the day, and he adds when seen flying about the trees in the daytime they resemble rooks so closely as to have been frequently mistaken for those birds. Since the cultivation of fruit has been carried on extensively in New South Wales and Queensland, these Bats have been found to do a vast amount of injury to the plantations.

Mr. Gould, speaking of this Bat, says, “The enormous number that may be seen sleeping pendent from the trees in the more secluded parts of the forest are beyond conception. It is not surprising, therefore, that the settlers whose abodes may be in the neighbourhood of one of these colonies should find their peach-orchards devastated in a single night. Indeed, no one of the native animals is more troublesome to the settlers than this large Bat, which, resorting to the fruit-grounds by night, when it is impossible to protect them from its attacks, commits the most fearful havoc.” Like the Indian species, this Bat is exceedingly fond of the wild fig.

HEAD OF THE MANED FRUIT BAT.HEAD OF THE GREY FRUIT BAT.

HEAD OF THE MANED FRUIT BAT.

HEAD OF THE GREY FRUIT BAT.

Mr. Gould described and figured from Northern Australia a large species of Fruit Bat of a sombre colour, with a reddish-brown neck-spot, which he identified with thePteropus funereusof Timor, a supposed species which is now regarded as a mere colour-variety of the Great Kalong. The Australian Bat is described by Professor Peters as a distinct species under the above name. It is about nine inches in length. We have the following observations upon its mode of occurrence and habits:—Mr. Gilbert found it to be extremely abundant in the Coburg peninsula. During the day the Bats were seen suspended in great numbers from the upper branches of the mangroves overhanging the creeks. They constantly emit a very strong and disagreeable odour, which is perceptible at a considerable distance. At night they become exceedingly active, and while flying about in quest of food they utter a loud, trembling, but shrill whistle.

Dr. Leichardt, in his expedition from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, found this Bat an excellent article of food. According to him it feeds upon fruit and the honey of various flowers. After it had fed upon the flowers of the so-called tea-tree, he found it to be unusually fat and delicate; while those Bats which had been revelling among the blossoms of the gum-trees were not so fat, and had a strong unpleasant odour. In the neighbourhood of the River Roper the Bats occurred in myriads, suspended in thick clusters on the highest trees in the shady and moist parts of the valley. They started from their repose as the travellers passed, and the flapping of their great leathery wings produced a sound like that of a hail-storm.

The so-called Mascarene Islands, Mauritius and Bourbon, those specks in the great Indian ocean which, when first discovered, harboured so many curious birds, also furnished one of the earliest known species of Fruit Bats, the Roussette (Pteropus vulgaris, seenext page), which was described by Gesner and Clusius. This species, which is said to occur also in Madagascar, and even on the mainland of Africa, is about eight and a half inches long, and three feet in expanse of wing. The muzzle, forehead, and cheeks are rusty red; the crown of the head, the nape, and the sides and front of the neck yellowish-red; and two longitudinal bands of the same colour run parallel to each other down the middle of the back, separated by a strip of blackish chestnut, which, with the similarly coloured shoulders, forms a sort of cross; the sides of the back are rusty red, and the lower surface of the body black. It is probably to the generally reddish tinge of its fur that this species owes its French name of Roussette, which has been extended in its application to the whole of the Frugivorous Bats.

The majority of the African Fruit Bats belong to genera which have been separated from the old genusPteropus. Thus we have several species ofCynonycteris(XantharpyiaandEleutheruraof the late Dr. Gray), in which the characters are generally those ofPteropus, but there is a short tail more or less enclosed in the interfemoral membrane, and the basal portion of the thumb is joined to the index finger by a membrane. To this genus belongs the Egyptian species already referred to (Cynonycteris ægyptiaca), representations of which occur on Egyptian monuments (seepage 269). This species is about five and a half inches long, with an expanse of wing of eighteen or twenty inches; the tail is rather more than half an inch long, and the basal half of it is enclosed in the interfemoral membrane; the ears are rather long, rounded at the tips, and naked; the upper surface of the body is pale greyish-brown, becoming yellowish on the sides and the hairy part of the arms, and the lower surface is whitish. These Bats are found abundantly in Egypt, where they dwell amongst the ruins of its ancient edifices, and in the dark chambers of the Pyramids. They also occur in Senegambia in Western Africa, and in Syria.

An abundant species of South Africa is the Hottentot Fruit Bat (Cynonycteris collaris), specimens of which may be seen in the Zoological Gardens, where they breed pretty freely. This species varies considerably in colour, but usually displays various shades of reddish or greyish-brown. The fur is less dense on the nape of the neck, which in consequence generally has a rather bare appearance. This Bat occurs at the Cape of Good Hope, in Caffraria, and in Mozambique.

These tailed Fruit Bats are represented in the East Indian region by several species, which gives the genusCynonycterisa geographical range from the Philippine Islands in the north-east to the Cape of Good Hope in the south-west. The best-known Indian species (Cynonycteris amplexicaudata), is nearly allied to the Egyptian form, but smaller, being little more than four inches in length. Its fur is reddish-brown, or brownish-red above, and so short upon the back that this part appears nearly bare. The range of this Bat extends from the shores of the Persian Gulf to the Philippine Islands, and it appears always to haunt the coasts. As already stated this Bat is supposed by some zoologists to feed on mollusca and other marine animals picked up on the seashore.

ROUSSETTE.

HEAD OF THE MARGINED FRUIT BAT.

In theCynopteri, which are small Fruit Bats inhabiting Southern Asia and its islands, the characters are very similar to those of the preceding genera, but the muzzle is considerably shorter and more Dog-like, and one of the true molars is deficient, so that the whole series of molar teeth contains four on each side in the upper, and five on each side in the lower jaw. The most abundant species is theCynopterus marginatus(seenext page), which is about four inches in length, and varies in colour through different shades of brown and reddish-brown. It is specially distinguished by having the ears surrounded by a white border. This Bat occurs in all parts of India, in Ceylon, in Further India, and in the eastern islands to Celebes and the Philippines. It is exceedingly common, and very destructive to fruits, especially guavas, plantains, and mangoes. Mr. Dobson gives the following account of the voracity of a specimen obtained by him at Calcutta:—He gave it“a ripe banana, which, with the skin removed, weighed exactly two ounces. The animal immediately, as if famished with hunger, fell upon the fruit, seized it between the thumbs and the index fingers, and took large mouthfuls out of it, opening the mouth to the fullest extent with extreme voracity. In the space of three hours the whole fruit was consumed. Next morning the Bat was killed, and found to weigh one ounce, half the weight of the food eaten in three hours! Indeed, the animal when eating seemed to be a kind of living mill, the food passing from it almost as fast as devoured, eating being performed alone for the sake of the pleasure of eating.” It is hardly fair, perhaps, to apply the character of this disgusting little gormandiser to his whole species, but no doubt if the rest of his kind only approximate to his prowess, they must do incalculable mischief in the plantations of fruit-trees. According to Captain Hutton, these Bats travel long distances, as much as thirty or forty miles in search of food, and back again the same night. This is most strikingly shown in their frequenting the valleys of the Dehra Doon and Nepaul to feed on the guavas growing there, as they are never seen in these localities during the day, but arrive there during the fruit season about midnight, and depart again before morning. “To reach Dehra,” says Captain Hutton, “they must either cross the Sivalik range of hills, from 3,000 to 3,500 feet high, or thread their way for miles through the passes leading into the Doon, though even then we may ask with amazement how, when they are approaching the Sivaliks, they can tell that there is fruit some twenty miles in advance of them! To reach the valley of Nepaul at 6,000 feet of elevation they must ascend and descend the mountains; and yet, wonderful to say, they penetrate no farther into the hills, neither do they descend from the Doon to Mussooree, apparently instinctively knowing that they will find no guavas farther in the hills! Almost equally astonishing is it that, having thus feasted in the Doon and Nepaul, they should be able to find their way back again, through forests and hills, for thirty or forty miles to their natural haunts in the plains.” Captain Hutton fully confirms Mr. Dobson’s statements as to the greediness of this Bat. He says that one he had “in Calcutta in 1849 appeared to be almost incessantly eating, resting only, even during the day, for a short interval of sleep, and then recommencing upon ripe guavas, as if it had not seen food for a fortnight.”

A series of peculiar species are inhabitants of the continent of Africa, from the Northern tropic to the Cape of Good Hope. They have the muzzle rather elongated, the molar teeth three on each side in the upper, and five on each side in the lower jaw, the base of the thumb united to the index finger by membrane, and the tail very short and chiefly enclosed in the small interfemoral membrane. The males have tufts of divergent white hairs on the shoulders, whence the generic name ofEpomophorus, applied to these Bats, has been derived. The best-known species is theEpomophorus Whitii, an inhabitant of Western Africa (Senegambia and Guinea), which measures about six and a half inches in length, and has an expanse of wing of about eighteen inches. Its fur is reddish-brown above, and greyish beneath, and both sexes present white spots at the base of the ears.

A species presenting so grotesque an appearance that it might almost have served as the original of one of Callot’s demons (seenext page), was discovered some years ago in Western Africa, by M. Du Chaillu, and described by Dr. Allen, of Philadelphia. It is allied toEpomophorus, but differs from all other Pteropine Bats in the extraordinary size and shape of the head, which has a hammer-like appearance, owing to the muzzle being enormously developed and cut off abruptly in front, and the whole of this part of the animal is garnished with curious fleshy lobes, which give it a most singular aspect. The length of the head and body is about twelve inches, and the expanse of the wings twenty-eight inches. Of its habits nothing appears to be known.

HAMMER-HEADED BAT.From theProceedings of the Zoological Society, 1870.

The Harpy Bat (Harpyia cephalotes), is a remarkable species, having a short and rounded head, with the nostrils wide apart and somewhat tubular, and a very peculiar dentition, there beingonly two incisor teeth in the upper jaw, and none in the lower, while the upper jaw has only four and the lower one six molars. This Bat, the Molucca Bat of Pennant and Shaw, inhabits the islands of Celebes and Amboyna. It is nearly four inches in length, and has an expanse of wing of about fourteen inches.

Mr. Dobson has recently described a second species of Harpy from Duke of York Island, near New Guinea, which may be called the Greater Harpy Bat (Harpyia major). It is much larger than the above species, and is especially remarkable for the great length of the nasal tubes. The general colour of the fur is pale buff.

This is another very curious Bat which inhabits Amboyna, but is also met with in Timor and Banda. It differs from all the preceding forms by wanting the claw at the extremity of the first finger, and is further remarkable by having the wing-membranes springing from the middle line of the back, so as to form a complete mantle for the animal. In the form of the head, this Bat resembles the truePteropi, but the dentition approaches that ofHarpyia, the incisors being usually two in each jaw, and the lower ones sometimes deficient, and the molars four and six in the upper and lower jawsrespectively. This Bat is about six inches long, with an expanse of wing of rather more than two feet. The colour of the fur in adult animals is generally olive-grey, often with a brownish tinge, and the wing-membranes are light brown and translucent. The tail is short, and about half enclosed in the interfemoral membrane.

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