Part 15 (1/2)

_GENUS SCOTOPHILUS_.

Muzzle short, bluntly conical, devoid of hair; ears longer than broad; tail shorter than the head and body; wing membrane attached to the base of the toes.

Dent.i.tion: Inc., 1--1/6; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 1--1/2--2; molars 3--3/3--3.

Jerdon's formula gives upper incisors 4.

NO. 92. SCOTOPHILUS FULIGINOSUS.

_The Smoky Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 40_).

HABITAT.--Central Nepal.

DESCRIPTION (_apud_ Hodgson).--”Feet very small, included in the wing membrane nearly to the end of the toes; ears acutely pointed, shorter than the head; muzzle groved, nudish; face sharp; rostrum somewhat recurved; wholly sooty brown; a little smaller than _Vesp.

formosa_.”

I cannot find this bat mentioned by any other author, and Jerdon says it does not seem to be recognised.

NO. 93. SCOTOPHILUS TEMMINCKII.

_Syn_.--NYCTICEJUS TEMMINCKII (_Jerdon_).

HABITAT.--India generally; Burmah and Ceylon.

[Figure: _Scotophilus Temminckii_.]

DESCRIPTION.--Ears short, rounded and narrow; tragus narrow, curved and pointed inwards; muzzle thick, blunt and conical; the fur varies, sometimes dark olive brown, fulvous beneath, and occasionally chestnut, with a paler shade of yellow below.

SIZE.--Four and a-half inches, of which the tail is 1-1/2; expanse, 13.

A very common species, appearing early in the evening. Horsfield says of it that it collects by hundreds in hollow trees, and feeds chiefly on white ants.

NO. 94. SCOTOPHILUS HEATHII.

HABITAT.--India and Ceylon (Rajanpore, Punjab).

DESCRIPTION.--Similar to the above, but longer in all its measurements (_Dobson_). Judging from drawings, the head and muzzle of this are more in a line than in the last species, the ears project forward, and are also larger, the tragus especially, and there is a greater width between the ears.

SIZE.--Five inches, of which the tail is 2.

NO. 95. SCOTOPHILUS EMARGINATUS.

HABITAT.--India; precise locality unknown.

DESCRIPTION.--Head broad and flat; muzzle obtuse and thick; ears long and large, with rounded tips turning outwards; tragus short; thumb long with a strong claw; wing membrane quite devoid of hair, except on the interfemoral membrane, which is half covered; fur tricolored, first dark chestnut, buff, and then yellowish brown.

SIZE.--Head and body, 2-1/10 inches; tail, 2 inches.

NO. 96. SCOTOPHILUS ORNATUS.