HEAD OF
TEMMINCK’S BAT.
(After Dobson.)
A few species, very nearly allied to the preceding, form the genus Scotophilus, in which the outer margin of the ear likewise comes down to the level of the angle of the mouth, but there are only two incisor teeth in the upper jaw, instead of four as in Vesperugo. These are stout-bodied Bats, with the muzzle nearly naked, the limbs strong, and the wing-membranes very thick and leathery, and scarcely encroached upon by hair. They are confined to the Eastern Hemisphere, and generally to its warmer parts, the species being found in Africa, Southern Asia and its islands, and in Australia. The best-known species is Temminck’s Bat (Scotophilus Temminckii), which enjoys a wide range from India and Ceylon eastward through Burmah and Southern China to the Eastern Archipelago, extending to the Moluccas and Philippine Islands. It is rather more than three inches in length, and varies considerably in colour, but is generally dark olive-brown above, and reddish or yellowish-white beneath. The fur, as throughout the genus, is short and close. The ear is peculiar in its form, and its outer margin sweeps round on the cheek and terminates in a convex lobe; the tragus is narrow and pointed, and considerably curved forwards and inwards. Temminck’s Bat is very abundant in the countries which it inhabits, and is one of the most prominent species of the group, seeing that it lives in large bands, often of several hundred individuals, in the roofs of houses and in hollow trees, and that it flies very early in the evening, in fact before the commencement of twilight. Temminck says that it feeds principally on White Ants (Termites).
The Harlequin Bat (Scotophilus ornatus), another Indian species, is remarkable for its coloration, which is a pale tawny-brown, curiously variegated with white spots. It has been obtained in India, Burmah, and Yunnan.
WELWITSCH’S BAT.[196]
WELWITSCH’S BAT. (Half natural size. From the Proceedings of the Zoological Society.)
This curious Bat, originally described by Dr. Gray from a specimen sent from Angola by the late Dr. Welwitsch, is especially remarkable for the brightness and variegation of its colours. The general tint of the fur is brown, the hairs being black at the base, with brown tips, which are longer and paler on the hairs of the lower surface, rendering the fur of that part paler than that of the back. The head also is pale, and the muzzle shows an orange tint, as do the ears, which are longer than the head, and rather acute, with a long pointed tragus, reaching nearly half-way up the ear. But the most striking peculiarity of the species consists in the colouring of the wings, which are yellowish-brown, dotted with black near the body, and beyond this chiefly blackish-brown, with numerous yellow dots arranged more or less regularly in curved lines, while a broad band of brownish-orange, bearing a few black dots, follows the course of the fore-arm, and gives origin at the wrist to three other bands of the same colour, one running down the margin of the wing and enclosing the first and second fingers, the other two following the course of the third and fourth fingers, and thus breaking the dark ground colour of the wing into three triangular patches. The occurrence of this peculiar mode of coloration in a Bat is the more remarkable as it is reproduced in at least two quite distinct species, namely, the Oriental Vespertilio formosus and Kerivoula picta, and in all these must probably subserve the same purpose, which Mr. Dobson with much justice supposes to be the protection of the animal by assimilating its appearance to that of withered leaves. The arms and legs in Welwitsch’s Bat are yellow, but the feet are black. The interfemoral membrane is yellowish-brown, with a few black dots, especially towards its margins. The length of the head and body is about three inches. Of the habits of this Bat nothing is recorded.
THE NEW ZEALAND BAT.[197]
