SCOTOPHILUS MICRODON, Tomes.
Small-toothed Bat.
Scotophilus microdon, Tomes in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxvii. p. 68.—Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3rd ser. vol. v. p. 50.
Mr. Tomes has very kindly favoured me with the loan of a specimen of the Bat represented in the accompanying Plate, for the purpose of enriching the 'Mammals of Australia.' This gentleman, believing the species to be entirely new to science, has characterized it in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London' for the year 1859, and I cannot perhaps do better than reproduce Mr. Tomes's account of the species, a course which I feel assured will be approved of by every mammalogist, from the confidence we all place in the investigations made by that gentleman.
"The present species is one having the same subgeneric characters as the common Pipistrelle of Europe and the Scot. Greyii and S. pumilus of Australia. To the latter species it is, by the form of its head and ears, most nearly affined, but may at once be distinguished from it by its greater size and by its smaller teeth.
"The crown is but little elevated above the facial line; but the muzzle, although short, is more pointed than is usual in the flat-crowned species. The ears are very small, nearly as broad as high, with the outer margin slightly hollowed out about the middle, below which is a faintly developed lobe, and immediately above which is the tip of the ear,—'the latter being obtusely angular, and directed outwards. The inner margin is very much rounded, especially at two-thirds of the distance from the base, where the convexity is so prominent as to be quite as high as the tip itself, the portion between this prominence and the tip being nearly horizontal. Altogether the ear bears some resemblance to that of Miniopteris. Scot. pumilus is the only species which has ears of form similar to those of the present species; but they are, although the species is smaller, rather larger, relatively longer, and have their tips less outwardly directed and more rounded. The tragus, as in all others of this group, is curved inwards, and rounded at the end; but it differs from that of some others in being rather widest in the middle.
"In relation to the size of the animal, the wings are rather ample, and rather broad for their length, the fourth finger (that which determines the breadth of the wing) being longer than the two basal phalanges of the longest finger. All the wing-bones are somewhat slender. The thumb is rather long, not quite half enveloped in the membrane.
"The legs are rather long and slender, the tibiæ being quite as long as in S. Gouldii, a species of greater size than the present; they are just twice the length of those of S. pumilus. The feet are large, about the length of those of S. Leisleri of Europe, the toes taking up half their entire length, and the wing-membranes extending to half the distance between the extremity of the tibia and the base of the toes. Tip of the tail enclosed in the membrane.
"The fur of the head extends to rather near the end of the nose; and the upper lips are furnished with moustaches; so that the only naked space is around and in front of the eye. The fur of the back does not extend on to the interfemoral membrane, and only to a very limited extent on those of the wings; but that of the under parts encroaches on the membranes all round the body, especially beneath the arms, where it reaches nearly to the elbow. A straight line from that joint to the knee would pretty accurately define the hairy portions of the wing-membranes.
"In quality the fur is soft, and rather long, bicoloured above and beneath. That of the back of a specimen from South Australia is dark brown at the root, with the terminal half of the hairs reddish brown, uniformly of the latter colour around the rump and on the flanks; beneath, dark brown at the root, with the terminal third light cinnamon-brown, that on the membranes paler and unicoloured. Membranes lightish brown.
"Another specimen from Van Diemen's Land differs only from the last in being much darker in colour; the fur of the upper parts black at the root, tipped with sepia-brown; beneath, the same, but the brown tips lighter and more tinged with rufous, especially that on the membranes and around the pubal region, where it is unicoloured and reddish brown.
"The teeth of this species, although not sufficiently examined to furnish a comparative description, are nevertheless seen at a glance to be of very small size, not only in reference to the size of the animal, but also actually smaller than those of several other species of much less size, such as S. trilatitius, S. lobatus, and S. abramis; hence the specific name of microdon here bestowed upon it."
The figure is of the natural size.
