488 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



"alliances," distinguished by differences in the parts already- 

 mentioned, as well as by the structure of the hair. The alli- 

 ances are designated Vespertilionine and Emballonxirine / the 

 former comprising the first three families, and the latter the 

 remaining two. The Vespertilionine forms have " hair-scales 

 imbricated, the tips of the scales in an oblique line, not ter- 

 minating in acute projections;" while the Emballonxirine 

 types have " hair-scales in a transverse series, the tips of the 

 scales in a straight [zonary] line, at right angles to the longi- 

 tudinal axis of the hair, nearly always terminating in acute 

 projections." Several types that have by many naturalists 

 been regarded as of family value are suppressed or placed 

 lower in rank. Thus, the Molossidce are reduced to a subfam- 

 ily of Emballonuridce / the Mormopidw to similar rank (with 

 the name Lobostomince) under Phyllostomidce / and the Des- 

 modidce are even degraded to the station of a simple "group" 

 under the same family. The author thus differs markedly 

 from Huxley, who had considered the last as representative 

 of a primary subdivision of the bats, co-ordinate with the 

 combination of all the others. No convincing reasons are 

 given for dissent from this view ; nor is it apparent why the 

 very decided modifications of dentition and splanchnology 

 of the type in question, co-ordinate as they are with other 

 characteristics, are not of as much taxonomic value as the 

 characters employed to differentiate the families of Microchi- 

 roptera. Nevertheless, whatever may be the ultimate deci- 

 sion on such points, the groups, as well as the species, are, on 

 the whole, so well analyzed and diagnosed that the work 

 must be considered as embodying a most decided advance, 

 and marking an epoch in chiropterology. 



The species, as already indicated, are primarily segregat- 

 ed amons: two suborders, distinguished, anions other charac- 

 ters, by their general adaptation for vegetable or animal food. 

 The coincidence between diet and structure is, however, by 

 no means exact. The Pteropodidce^ indeed, are almost exclu- 

 sively frugivorous; but some o iho Animalivora (Stenoder- 

 mata) are said to be equally so, while the others differ in the 

 character of the animal food most affected by them. Most 

 of them are entitled, by right of regimen, to the name Insec- 

 tivora, generally conferred on them ; but some prey upon oth- 

 er animals, such as smaller representatives of their own order, 



