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Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon

by Robert A. Sterndale

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No. 87 Vesperugo Dormeri

Habitat.—Southern India and Bellary Hills.

Description.—Head flat; ears shorter, triangular, with rounded tips; tragus with a small triangular lobe near base of outer margin; fur brown, with ashy tips above, darker brown below, with the terminal third of the hairs white. Dentition approaches the next genus, there being only one pair of unicuspidate upper incisors placed, one by each upper canine.

No. 88. (Vesperugo) SCOTOPHILUS SEROTINUS.
Syn.—VESPERUGO SEROTINUS.
The Silky Bat (Jerdon’s No. 35).

Habitat.—Europe, but extending through Asia to the Himalayas, Beluchistan and Kashmir.

Description.—Ears shorter than head, widely separate, ovate, angular, projecting forward, terminating in a convex; lobe ending on a level with the corner of the mouth; tragus twice the length of its breadth, semi-cordate; fur deep bay or chestnut brown; above fulvous, grey beneath; hairs of back long and silky, but the colour of the fur varies considerably.

Size.—Head and body, 2½ inches; tail, 2; wing expanse, 13.

This is a rare bat in India, though Captain Hutton has procured it at Mussoorie. In England it is not uncommon even near London; it flies steadily and rather slow, and is found in ruins, roofs of churches, and sometimes old hollow trees.

No. 89. (Vesperugo) Scotophilus Leisleri.
Syn.—Vesperugo Leisleri.
The Hairy-armed Bat (Jerdon’s No. 36).

Habitat.—Himalayas.

Vesperugo Leisleri.

Description.—Ears short, oval, triangular; tragus short, rounded at tip; membrane attached to base of outer toe; all toes short; membrane over the arms very hairy, some cross-lines of hair on the interfemoral membrane; fur long, deep fuscous brown at base, chestnut at the tip; beneath greyish brown.—Jerdon.

Size.—Head and body, 2¼ inches; tail, 3¾; expanse, 11½.

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