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 the Pteropus funereus of 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 ROUSSETTE.[152]
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, see [next 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 EGYPTIAN FRUIT BAT.[153]
The majority of the African Fruit Bats belong to genera which have been separated from the old genus Pteropus. Thus we have several species of Cynonycteris (Xantharpyia and Eleutherura of the late Dr. Gray), in which the characters are generally those of Pteropus, 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 (see [page 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.
THE HOTTENTOT FRUIT BAT.[154]
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.