VESPERTILIONID. K 



665 



these the best-known, M. schreibersi, is very widely distributed, being 



found almost everywhere throughout the tropical and warmer 

 temperate regions of the eastern hemisphere ; specimens from 

 Germany, Madagascar, Japan, and Australia differing in no 

 appreciable respect from one another. 



The last or Thyropt&rvm division, which likewise comprises oidy 

 two genera, is characterised by the presence of an additional osseous 

 phalanx in the middle finger and an equal number of phalanges in 

 the toes, and also by peculiar accessory clinging organs attached 

 to the extremities. 



Thyropt&ra,} — Dentition : i §, c \, p -f, m § ; total 38. In the 

 single species T. tricolor of Brazil the clinging organs have the 

 appearance of small, circular, pedunculated, hollow discs (Fig. 311), 

 resembling in miniature the sucking cups of cuttle-fishes, and are 



Fig. 311. — Suctorial discs in Thyroptcra tricolor, a, Side and b, concave surface, of thumb- 

 disc ; c, foot with disc, and calcar with projections (all much enlarged). Dobson, Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1876. 



attached to the inferior surfaces of the thumbs and soles of the 

 feet. "With these the animal is enabled to maintain its hold when 

 creeping over smooth vertical surfaces. 



Myxopoda. 2 — The second genus is likewise represented only by 

 a single species — M. auriia of Madagascar — and is distinguished 

 from the preceding by the characters of the teeth and the form of 

 the ears. The whole inferior surface of the pollex supports a 

 large sessile horse -shoe-shaped adhesive pad, with the circular 

 margin directed forwards and notched along its edge, and a 

 smaller pad occupies part of the sole of the foot. 



Fossil Vespertilionidce. — It is not improbable that Vesperugo is 

 represented in the Upper Eocene of the Paris basin by V. pari- 

 siensi<, which appears to be allied to V. serotina, although it has 

 been regarded by some writers as generically distinct, under the 

 name of Nyctitherium. Vesperugo (Nyctitherium) also occurs in the 

 Bridger Eocene of the United States; Nydilestes from the same 



1 Spix, Sim. nnd Vcsp. Bresil, p. 61 (1823). 



- A. Milne-Edwards, Bull. Soc. Philom. ser. 7, vol. ii. p. 1 (1878). 



