334 Zoological Society : — 



of zoology, it has been proposed by Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte 

 to substitute that of Furipterus. The latter name will be here 

 adopted, and as the opportunity of examining a second species has 

 occurred, it will afford the means of confirming the generic characters 

 given by the original describer, and also supply some additional pe- 

 culiarities. 



Genus Furipterus, Bonap. 



The top of the head is very much elevated, leaving a deep hollow 

 between that and the end of the nose. The muzzle is very short, 

 rather small, and abruptly truncated at the end. This gives the end 

 of the nose something the appearance of that part in the genus Sus, 

 and the similarity is increased by the superior margin being produced 

 in an upward direction, as in that genus. The end of the snout may 

 properly be called a disc, widest at its base, and having a slight 

 emargination in the middle of its upper boundary. In this disc the 

 nostrils are placed, small, directed straight forward, and nearly 

 round. Between them is a narrow vertical groove, continuous from 

 the emargination of the upper border of the disc. 



All the face is densely covered with soft long hair, only the flat 

 end of the nose and the extreme margins of the lips being naked. 

 Near to the edges of the lips, and about the corners of the mouth, 

 the fur assumes the aspect of a beard. Around the upper margin of 

 the nose-disc is a fringe of fine short silky hairs. 



The ears are rather large and broad, directed forward, and deeply 

 concave within. Their inner margins project inwards and forwards 

 over the forehead in the shape of a rounded lobe. Their extremities 

 are rather acute and directed outwards. 



The tragus is shaped somewhat like the head of an arrow, sup- 

 ported on a narrow foot-stalk. It is short and rather broad, with a 

 descending barb or point on each side, the outer one being the longer 

 and more acute. From these it tapers rapidly to a narrow, but 

 rounded tip, directed a little outwards. 



The most remarkable peculiarities in the organs of flight consist 

 in the excessively small size of the thumb, and the shortness of the 

 middle phalange of the longest finger. The thumb has the basal 

 joint much longer than the terminal one. It is wholly engaged in 

 the antebrachial membrane, the nail only being free. The phalange 

 of the finger, above alluded to, has its length contained three and a 

 half times in that of the terminal one, and six times in that of the 

 basal one. The middle phalange of the third finger also is somewhat 

 shorter than is usual in most VespertiUonidtE. 



The wing-membranes extend to the distal end of the tibia. The 

 legs are long and slender, and the heel cartilage very long. All the 

 membranes are thickly marked with fine dotted lines, the interfemoral 

 having not less than twenty- five. In this respect they bear consider- 

 able resemblance to those parts in Rhinolophus and Nycteris. 



The cerebral part of the skull is excessively elevated, qviite dome- 

 shaped, and the facial portion very much depressed. 



From the extraordinary elevation and expansion of the parietal 

 bones, the frontal bone "is reduced to unusually small dimensions. 



