NYCTOPHILUS GEOFFROYI, Leach*.
Geoffroy's Nyctophilus.
Nyctophilus Geoffroyi, Leach in Linn. Trans., vol. xiii. p. 73, 1820-22.—Less. Man. de Mamm., p. 86, 1827.—Fisch. Synops. Mamm., p. 135, 1829.—Temm Mon., tom. ii. p. 47, 1835-41.—Wagn. Supp. Schreib. Saugeth., tom. ii. p. 442, 1840.-—Less. Nouv. Tab. Regn. Anim., p. 33, 1842.—Schinz, Synops. Mamm., tom. i. p. 217, 1844.— Tomes in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxvi. p. 29.
Since my plate and description of the animal I have called Nyctophilus Geoffroyi were printed, Mr. Tomes has very minutely investigated this group of bats, and published a monograph of the genus, and he now considers that the hint I there gave as to the probability of the species from Western Australia and Tasmania being distinct is a correct view of the case, and has come to the conclusion that the Western Australian species is the true N. Geoffroyi, and consequently that the animal from New South Wales, formerly figured by me under that name, should receive a new appellation; and he has accordingly named it after myself, N. Gouldi. It is much to be regretted that this conclusion should not have been arrived at before my plate and description were printed, as the synonymy of the New South Wales N. Gouldi has reference to the animal here represented, which is a native of Western Australia; however as Mr. Tomes's opinions are of value, and entitled to be recorded in this or any other work comprising an account of any of the members of the family Vespertilionidæ, I will quote his own words:—
"This, from its size," says Mr. Tomes, "is unquestionably the species on which Dr. Leach established the genus. The original description in the Linnean Transactions is much too vague to discriminate the exact species with certainty; but M. Temminck having become possessed of the original specimen, and given a more detailed description of it, I am enabled to determine with certainty which is the true N. Geoffroyi."
Mr. Gilbert states that this species is called Bar-ba-lon by the aborigines of King George's Sound, and Bämbe by the natives of Perth, and that it is the most abundant species in the colony of Western Australia. It is sometimes met with by the wood-cutters in the hollow spouts of the gum-trees in great numbers; from these retreats they emerge at twilight and flit about the shrubs and lower trees in search of insects.
The following is Mr. Tomes's description: —
"The face is moderately hairy, the hairs being pretty regularly scattered, but a little thicker on the upper lips and on the second nose-leaf than elsewhere; immediately over the eye is a small tuft of bristle-like black hairs, and a similar one near the hinder corner of the eye; at the angle of the mouth a few similar hairs may be observed; the fur of the back extends to a very trifling extent on to the interfemoral membrane, but all the other membranes are perfectly naked and of a dark brown colour, as are also all the other naked parts, with the exception of the tragus and the contiguous parts of the inside of the ear, which are brownish yellow. The fur of the body is rather long, thick, and very soft; on all the upper parts it is conspicuously bicoloured, black for nearly two-thirds of its length, the remainder being olive brown, of which the extreme tips are rather the darker portion; on the membranes uniting the ears the fur is uniform yellowish brown; the fur of the throat and flanks is uniform brownish white, that of the latter being sometimes more strongly tinted with brown; all the remaining underparts have the fur markedly bicoloured black at the base, with the terminal third brownish white, varying considerably in purity of colour in different individuals."
"This description," says Mr. Tomes, "was taken from a specimen kindly lent to me by Mr. Gould, and which is labelled 'Albany, King George's Sound, May 19, 1843.'"
The figures are of the natural size.
