MONOGRAPH OF THE ASIATIC CHIROPTERA, AND CATALOGUE OF THE SPECIES OF BATS IN THE COLLECTION OF THE INDIAN MUSEUM, CALCUTTA. י. BY G. E. DOBSON, M.A., M.B., F.L.S., &c. LONDON: PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE INDIAN MUSEUM. 1876. PREFACE. THE completion of this short work, commenced in 1871, in Calcutta, has for many reasons been delayed. I had at first determined to write a descriptive catalogue of the species of Bats preserved in the Indian Museum; but finding, on finishing my examination of the collection, that few species remained to fill up the list of Asiatic Chiroptera, I resolved to add the descriptions of these species, and so unite to the Catalogue of the Species of Bats a Monograph of the Asiatic Chiroptera. The MSS., thus commenced in 1871, remained without further addition until 1874; for almost constant interruptions to the progress of even this short work occurred, chief among them my return to England. I was therefore unable to resume work until last year, when the prospect of a visit to the Continent for the purpose of examining the types preserved in the Museums of Berlin, Leyden, and Paris especially, and the hope of soon obtaining an opportunity for seeing the types of Horsfield's Bats from Java, made me delay publication still further. As now completed, this monograph contains full descriptions of all the species of Chiroptera known, with certainty, to occur within the limits of Asia, and includes also a list of the specimens of Bats in the collection of the Indian Museum. Moreover, as all the European Bats, with the exception of four species, have been found inhabiting Asia also, I have added full descriptions of these four, in footnotes to the species with which they are most nearly allied. This work might therefore be justly entitled "A Monograph of the Asiatic and European Chiroptera." |