70 



MAMMALIA. 



Fig. 10. — Head of Dysopus tenuis. 



The Dinops of M. Savi refers to 

 these Molossines with six inferior 

 incisors. There is one of them in 

 Italy (Dinops cestonii, Savi). 



M. Geoffroy has applied the name 

 Nyctonomus to those which have 

 four inferior incisors. 



The Molossines were at first dis- 

 covered only in America ; but we 

 now know several from both con- 

 tinents. Some of them have the 

 hinder thumb placed farther from 

 the other digits than these are 

 from each other, and capable of 

 separate motion ; a character on which, in one species where it is very strongly marked, Dr. Horsfield has 

 established his genus Cheiromeles [the ears of which, also, differ in being widely separated]. 



It is probable that we should also place here the Thyroptera of Spix, which appears to have several cha- 

 racters of the Molossines, and the thumb of which has a little concave palette peculiar to them (fig. 10, a), by 

 which they are enabled to cling more closely. [Several species of this genus agree in possessing this appendage, 



which is proportionally larger in the 

 young. 



As a whole, the group of Molossines is 

 extremely distinct and insulated, though 

 consisting of a vast number of species, 

 of which about twenty may be considered 

 established ; six or seven of these ap- 

 pertain to the eastern hemisphere. The 

 largest and most curious of them is 

 D. cheiropus, Tern. (Cheiromeles, Horsf., 

 fig. 11), from Siam, which measures 

 nearly two feet across : it is quite naked, 

 with the exception of an abrupt collar 

 of hairs round the neck. 



Several have the upper lip laterally 

 pendent (fig. 10), whence the name 

 Molossus or Mastiff; and the term 

 Dysopus refers to the toes being more 

 or less tufted with hair. The greater 

 number of species are from Brazil and 

 Paraguay.] 



Fig. 11.— Dysopus cheiropus. 



The Noctules {Noctilio*, Lin. Ed. xii.) 

 Muzzle short, inflated, and split into a double hare-lip, marked with odd-looking warts and grooves ; 

 ears separate ; four incisors above and two below ; tail short, and [possibly in some] free above the inter- 

 femoral membrane ; [limbs much elongated, the hinder very large and stout, and furnished with strong 

 claws ; the volar membranes are attached high upon the back, in some almost meeting dorsally, as in the 

 Cephalot and some Roussettes.] 



The most generally known species is from America (Vesp. leporinus, Gm.), of a uniform fulvous. [Others 

 have been found on the same continent : and Celano, Leach, was founded on an imperfect specimen, which is 

 still extant. The Modules are allied to the true Bats ( Vespertilio) ; and a group which appears to be somewhat 

 intermediate, but with a more elongated muzzle, is the Emballonura, Kuhl (Proboscidea, Spix), of which four 

 species have been described from South America, and a fifth from Java. Pteronotus, Gray, is probably a Noctule, 

 with a longer tail than usual ; and Myopteris, Geoff., and also Aello, Leach, do not seem to differ essentially.] 



The Phyllostomes (Phyllostoma, Cuv. and Geoff.) 

 The regular number of incisors is four to each jaw, but some of the lower ones frequently fall, 

 being forced out by the growth of the canines ; [the second false molar is generally elongated] . They are, 

 moreover, distinguished by the membrane, in the form of an upturned leaf, which is placed across the 

 end of the nose. The tragus of their ear (fig. 12) resembles a leaflet, more or less indented. Their 

 tongue, which is very extensile, is terminated by papillae, which appear to be arranged so as to form 



• The division Nuctilio was unaccountably ranged by Linnaeus amuutf his Glirea, or the Rodentia of our author. — Ed. 



