670 



CHIROPTERA 



separate. This genus is represented by a single species, C. torquatus, 

 of large size (forearm 3 - l inches) and peculiar aspect, inhabiting 

 the Indo-Malayan subregion. This Bat is nearly naked, a collar 

 only of thinly spread hairs half surrounding the neck ; and is 

 further remarkable for its enormous throat-sac and curious nursing- 

 pouches. The former consists of a great semicircular fold of skin 

 forming a deep pouch round the neck beneath, and concealing the 

 orifices of large subcutaneous pectoral glands, which discharge an 

 oily fluid of insufferably offensive smell. The nursing -pouch is 

 formed on each side by an extension of a fold of skin from the side 

 of the body to the inferior surfaces of the humerus and femur. In 

 the anterior part of this pouch the mamma? are placed. 



Molossus. 1 — Dentition : i 



.0 3 ° 13 



P 



1-2 



m 



-I : total 24 or 28. 



i_o » " ij r 1 » "" 3 3 

 Upper incisors close together in the middle line. There are some 



ten species, restricted to the tropical 

 and subtropical regions of the New 

 World. The woodcut of the head of 

 M. glaucinus (Fig. 315) exhibits the 

 general physiognomy of the Bats of 

 this genus. 31. obscurus, a small species, 

 is very common in tropical America. It 

 inhabits the hollow trunks of palms and 

 other trees, and also the roofs of houses. 

 The males and females live apart (as, 

 indeed, appears to be the case in most, 

 if not in all, species of Bats). In the 

 hollow trunk of a palm two colonies 

 were discovered, one consisting of from 

 150 to 200 individuals, exclusively males, while the other was 

 composed almost entirely of females. 



Fir. 315. — Head of Molossusglauoinus. 

 (Dobson, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1S70.) 



ir» c x> P 



2—1 



in 



% ; total 32 or 



3 > 

 The genus con- 



Nydinomus. 2 — Dentition : i -§ 

 28. Upper incisors separated in the middle line 

 tains about twenty-five species, inhabiting the tropical and sub- 

 tropical parts of both hemispheres. The lips of the Bats of this 

 genus are even more expansible than in Molossus, in many of the 

 species (as in the woodcut of the head of N. macrotis, Fig. 

 316) showing vertical wrinkles. N. tamiotis, one of the largest 

 species, alone extends into Europe, and has been taken as 

 far north as Switzerland. N. johorensis, from the Malay Penin- 

 sula, is remarkable from the extraordinary form of its ears. 

 N. brasiliensis is nearly as common as Molossus obscurus in tropical 

 America, and extends farther north (California) and south than 

 that species. 



1 Geoffroy, Ann. clu Museum, vol. vi. p. 154 (1805). 

 - Geoffroy, Dcscript. dc VEgypte, vol. ii. p. 114 (1812). 



