Page:The mammals of Australia Gould vol 3.djvu/149

 Gray.

Orange Horse-shoe Bat.

The Orange Horse-shoe Bat (Rhinoloplius aurantius), Gray, App. to Eyre's Journ. of Exp. of Disc, into Central Australia, vol. i. p. 405. tab. 1. fig. 1.

The only information we possess respecting this beautiful Bat, is that it is abundant on the Cobourg Peninsula in Northern Australia; that it retires during the day-time to the hollow spouts and boles of the various species of Eucalypti; and that it sallies forth on the approach of evening in search of its insect food: its general habits and manners in fact so closely resemble those of the other members of the genus, that a separate description of them is quite unnecessary.

Mr. Gray, who characterized the animal in the Appendix to Mr. Eyre's "Travels," above referred to, from a specimen procured while flying near the Hospital at Port Essington, by Dr. Sibbald, R.N., remarks that it is "peculiar for the brightness and beauty of its colour, the male being nearly as bright as the Cock of the Rock (Rupicola aurantia) of South America."

The following is Mr. Gray's description of this pretty animal:—

"Ears moderate, naked, rather pointed at the end; nose-leaf large, central process small, scarcely lobed, blunt at the tip; fur elongate, soft, bright orange; the hairs of the back with short brown tips, of the under side rather paler, of the face rather darker; membranes brown, nakedish; tail rather produced beyond the membrane at the tip; feet small and quite free from the wings.

"The female pale yellow, with brown tips to the hair of the upper parts."

The figures are of the natural size.