INTF,Rlti:t,ATIONS OK GEXERA. Ixiii 



the fiitli lengthoiieJ (bo as to mako the thir.l, fourth, and liCth 

 metacarpals ec^ual in length), and the caudal vertebra; further 

 reduced in number. 



Syconycteris (three species, seven forms : Austro-Malaya and 

 Australia) is ilosely related to Macrotjlossus, but all upj)er and the 

 outer lower incisors are cons])icuously enlarged and proclivons, 

 the posterior molar above and below reduced (absent in one species), 

 the interfemoral unusually narrow, and the calcar rudimentary. 



In the foregoing four genera of Macror/lossiiia', which rna}' be 

 called tlie Eonycterine section, as well as in all Ptero/)odin(v, the 

 infraorbital canal is short (the outer wall a narrow bridge of bono 

 and its anterior aperture, the infraorbital for;imen, situated verti- 

 cally below or closely in front of the orbit), and the premaxillte are 

 not or only very little broader above (at nasals) than below (near 

 alveolar border). In the remaining three genera of Macrofflossinc^, 

 the Notopterine section {Meloni/cferis, Ncsom/cten'^, and iVoto- 

 pteris), the infraorbital canal is much loss reduced, the infraorljital 

 foramen therefore situated a considerable distance in front of the 

 orbit, and the premaxilla? are less narrowed in their upper halves, 

 being about thrive or twice as broad above as below ; and the 

 species of one of these genera (To^o^j^er/s) are the only living 

 Fruit-bats in which the tail has remained long. Externally these 

 two primary sections of Macroglossina' may easily be distinguished 

 by an examination of the wings: in the Eonycterine section either 

 the third metacarpal is distinctly longer than the fourth and fifth 

 or these three metacarpals are subequal in length, and the terminal 

 phalanx of the third finger is always conspicuously shorter than 

 the third metacarpal ; in the Notopterine section the fifth meta- 

 carpal is the longest, and the terminal phalanx of the third finger 

 subequal to or even longer than the third metacarpal. 



In point of dentition Melonycteris (one species: Xew Guinea 

 RTid Bismarck Archipelago) is the least modified genus of the 

 Notopterine section. The dental formula is typically Megachi- 

 ropteran (incisors r, — ;„ cheek-teeth "!), all the cheek-teeth are much 

 reduced in size and sublincar in form. The external characters 

 are not peculiar, except in so far as the tail has disappeared (and 

 the ventral surface of the body is much darker in colour than the 

 dorsal). 



Nesouycteris (one species : Solomon Islands) is the slightly 

 modified eastern representative of MeloiufcWris : i, is suppressed 

 and the claw of the second finger is lost (the ventral surface of the 

 body, as usual in Jlegachiroptera, paler than the dorsal). 



In having retained a long tail, much longer than in any other 

 Fruit-bat, Notopteris (two sjiecies : Western Polynesia) is more 

 primitive than Mrlonj/cterii and Nesoi^ijcliris, in other respects it 

 has to a certain point followed similar lines of development, but is 

 considerably more highly specialized, p' and p. arc lost (the latter 



