RHINOLOPHUS MEGAPHYLLUS, Gray.
Great-leaved Horse-shoe Bat.
Rhinolophus megaphyllus, Gray in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part ii. p. 52.—lb. List of Mamm. in Coll. Brit. Mus., p. 22.
This species, the largest of the Horse-shoe Bats that has yet been received from Australia, was described by Dr. Gray as long back as 1834, from a specimen collected in the caverns in the neighbourhood of the river Morumbidgee, in New South Wales. The example from which my figure was taken was obtained by Mr. Leycester near the Richmond river. I mention these localities particularly, because the animal is one of those which did not come under my notice during my explorations in Australia, although it was almost a never-failing practice with me to devote the last hour of the day to the study and collection of these curious little mammals.
Dr. Gray states, that "this Bat is very nearly allied to the true European Rhinolophi, and agrees with them in having four cells at the base of the hinder nose-leaf, and distant pectoral teats, but differs from them in having a much broader nose-leaf.
"The hinder nose-leaf is bristly, ovate-lanceolate, nearly as broad at the base as the face, with a rather produced tip; the septum of the nose is grooved; and the front leaf expanded with a quite free membranaceous edge. The head is elongated; the face depressed; the muzzle rounded; the ears are large, reaching when bent down rather beyond the tip of the nose. The fur is soft and of a pale mouse-colour. The membranes are dark and naked, with rather distant whitish hair on the under side, near the sides of the body."
The figures are of the size of life.
