NYCTERIDJE 



659 



inches), is not only the largest species of the genus hut also of the 

 suborder. M. lyra, common in India (forearm '2'7 inches), has been 

 caught in the act of sucking the blood, while flying, from a small 

 species of Vesperugo, which it afterwards devoured, so that it is 

 probable that the Bats of this genus do not confine themselves to 



Fig. 307. — Megaderma gigas. x A. (From Dobson, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1SS0.) 



insect prey alone, but also feed, when they can, upon the smaller 

 species of Bats and other small mammals. 



The Oriental M. spasma and M. lyra differ from the Ethiopian 

 .1/. cor and M. from in having two upper premolars instead of one, 

 and also in the shape of the frontals and nasals. 



Nyctens. 1 — Dentition : i ■§, c\,p |, m% ; total 32. This genus, 

 of which there are seven species, differs so much from Megaderma 

 that it may be considered the type of a separate subfamily. As in 

 that genus, the frontal bones are deeply hollowed out and expanded 

 laterally, the muzzle presents a similar cylindrical form, and the 

 lower jaw also projects, but the single elevated nose-leaf is absent, 

 and instead of it the face is marked by a deep, longitudinal, sharp- 

 edged groove extending from the nostrils (which are on the upper 



] (ieoffroy, Ncmv. Did. d'Hlst. Nat. vol. xv. p. 501 (1803). 



