658 



CHIROPTERA 



and hollowed behind, and their substance quite thin. Premolars f . 

 Represented by A. ortiatus of the Solomon Islands. 



Mr. 0. Thomas, the describer of this Bat, remarks that it is 

 evidently more nearly allied to the preceding than to the succeeding 

 genera, although it agrees with Ccelops in the rudimentary tail. 



Ehinonycteris 1 and Tricenops. 2 — These are two allied genera with 



well -developed tails; the former 



r ,ui#" ,,r ? 



Pig. 306. — Head of Tricenops persicus. x i 

 (From Dobson, Monogr. Asiat. Chiropt.) 



being represented by B. aurantia 

 from Australia, and the latter by 

 T. persicus from Persia and Eastern 

 Africa. Tricenops (Fig. 306) is 

 characterised by the remarkable 

 form of its nasal appendages and 

 ears, and the presence of a peculiar 

 osseous projection from the 

 proximal extremity of the second 

 phalanx of the fourth finger. 



Ccelops? — This genus is known 

 only by a single species, C. frithi, 

 from the Bengal Sunderbans, 

 Java, and Siam (in the roof of 

 the great pagoda at Laos) ; and 

 is distinguished, not only by the form of its nose-leaf, but also by 

 the great length of the metacarpal of the index finger, as well as 

 by the shortness of the calcar and interfemoral membrane and the 

 rudimental tail. 



Family Nycterid^e. 



This small family, including only two genera of Bats of peculiar 

 aspect, limited to the tropical and subtropical parts of the eastern 

 hemisphere, is distinguished from the Bhinolophiclce by the presence 

 of a distinct tragus to the ear, and by the premaxill?e being cartila- 

 ginous or small and separated from one another in front by a dis- 

 tinct space. 



Mecjaclerma.* — Dentition: i f, .c \, p ==^-, m f ; total 28 or 26. 

 This genus, which is represented by five species, is readily recognised 

 by the absence of upper incisors, the cylindrical narrow muzzle 

 surmounted by an erect naked cutaneous nose -leaf, the base of 

 which conceals the nasal orifices, by the immense connate ears with 

 large bifid tragi, and by the great extent of the interfemoral 

 membrane, in the base of which the very short tail is concealed. 

 M. gigas (Fig. 307), from Central Queensland (length of forearm 4 - 2 



1 Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1847, p. 10. 



Dobson, Jour a. As. Soc. Bengal, 



vol. xl. p. 455 (1871). 3 Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. xvii. p. 251 (1848). 

 4 Geoffroy, Ann. die Museum, vol. xv. p. 197 (1810). 



