Descriptions of East Asiatic Mammals 99 
somewhat like that of Emballoniira. The family is found from 
northeast Africa to Siam and Sumatra. 
The Malay Mouse-tailed Bat, Rhinopoma hardwickii, is 
dark brown above, rather paler beneath. The forearm measures 
2% inches, the head and body 3 inches, the tail 2% inches. 
Rhinopoma is found in ruins, caves, and rock crevices and ap- 
pears to be rare. The Sumatran form is reported to be slightly 
larger, the length given for the forearm being about 2% inches. 
the sheath-tailed and tomb bats 
(family emballonurid^e) 
The Bats belonging to this family can be distinguished from 
all others by the fact that although the basal part of the tail is 
enclosed in the flying membrane stretching between the two 
hind legs (inter femoral membrane), the terminal part of the 
tail emerges and lies free upon the upper surface of the mem- 
brane. This arrangement is easy to see when the Bats are held 
in the hand. There is never any noseleaf, and the ears are com- 
paratively simple. The family presents certain other special 
characters in combination with a number of primitive ones. It 
is represented in the tropical belts throughout both Old and 
New Worlds. In our area only two genera are found, the small 
Sheath-tailed Bats, Emballoniira, and the considerably larger, 
heavy-bodied, sometimes spotted Tomb Bats, Taphozons. 
The Sheath-tailed Bats, genus Emballonura (Fig. 18) are 
plentiful through the Indo-Australian Archipelago; the genus 
appears also in Madagascar. One of the species, E. monticola, 
described originally from Java, extends on the mainland through 
the lower Malay Peninsula to Trang in peninsular Siam. The 
color is dark brown, slightly paler beneath. The length of the 
forearm is 1% inches. Some species, though they fly around the 
tops of high trees in the forest at dusk, roost habitually by day 
in low-growing palms in small groups. 
