596 



CYN0PTEUU5. 



Cynoptems numbered five species, two of -which must be placed 

 in separate genera, viz., melanocephalus (Chironax) and latidens 

 {Thoopterus nirfrencena) ; the remaining ttiree were marginatus 

 (z=s. spliinx, s. titthcecJieilns, h. angulatus, b. hracht/ofis, I. ceylonensis, 

 and h. horsfieldi), scherzeri (subspecies of hrachi/otis), and hrachijsoma 

 (subspecies of brachyotis). The latest writer on the subject 

 (Matschie, 1899) catalogued all the then described forms geo- 

 graphically, without expressing any definite opinion on their 

 distinctness. 



Ilistori/ of generic names. — The name now universally adopted for 

 the present genus was proposed by F. Cuvier in 1822 (Cynopteres) 

 and 1824 {Cynopterus) ; the only species then known was 

 " marginatus" (= s. sphia.v), and the principal generic characters 

 pointed out by F. Cuvier were, quite correctly, the shortness of the 

 rostrum and the absence of m^ and m^. But F. Cuvier's proposal 

 was not accepted by the leading French authority on Chiroptera of 

 that period, viz., E. Geoffrey (1828) ; this author refused to 

 lecognize Cynopier^is as a distinct genus, leaving the species 

 " ■marqinatus " in the old genus Ptcropus ; but at the same time he 



