MACROGLOSSrS. 7«Ju 



as in /■Joni/cferis (roilucod from S to 7 in Mec/aloglox.nis). But ia 

 all otlicr cliarnetcrs of any importance it has developed along the 

 same lines as Jlei/alo^/hssus, and in many respects it has carried 

 the development considerably farther than Mi'cialoglossiis. The 

 characters in which Megaloijlossn^ is more highly specialized than 

 /•Joni/cteria are (as pointed out p. 741) chiefly these : the slenderer 

 rnstrnm, the more proclivous and solidly united premaxilla"", the 

 elongated extremity of the mandible, the narrow (linear) cheek- 

 teeth, and the reduced tail. Ail of these Megaloglossiiie specializa- 

 tions reoccur in Macro'/hssHs ; but in additioij to these, the brain-case 

 is much more strongly deflected, the preraaxilhe still more proclivous, 

 the extremity of the mandible even more drawn out, the symphysis 

 of the mandible longer, p ', p\ and p^ reduced (on the point of degene- 

 rating to the same degree as the posterior cheek-teeth), the number 

 of caudal vertehroe reduced from five to three or two, the third 

 metacarpal shortened and the fifth lengthened (so as to make the 

 third, fourth, and fifth metacarpals subequal in length), and the 

 insertion of the wing-membranes shifted more toward the post- 

 axial (fibular) side of the foot. It appears safe to presume, there- 

 fore, that Mt'f/dhr/lossMs and Maeroglossus are ofishoots from one 

 branch, but while the Ethiopian genus (Merfaloghssus) has preserved 

 many Eonycterine characters (viz. slight deflection of brain-case, 

 short sym])h3-s4s of mandible, short infraorbital canal, unreduced 

 ]i', ])', and p^ (though the posterior cheek-teeth are degenerated 

 to the same degree as in Maeroglosfsus), long third, short fifth, 

 and intermediate fourth metacarpal), its eastern representative 

 has got rid of all of these Eonycterine (or pr?e-Eonycterine) 

 reminiscences. 



Ghronoln(/)f of Kpecies and revisions. — For nearly eighty years 

 (1810-1889) this genus was believed to be monotypic (Horsfield's 

 Pli-ropus rostratiis, 18iil, was soon seen to bo the same as 

 E. (leoflfroy's Pt. minimim). The first author to point out the 

 existence of two species, the one {minimus) without, or with only 

 a slight indication of, a mediau vertical groove on the upper lip, the 

 other wifh the intcrnarial groove continued downward to the margin 

 of the upper lip, was Oldfield Thomas (?. <•., 1889) ; but the latter 

 species was urongly identified with Peters's " M. australis" (known 

 to Thomas only from the published description and figures), which 

 in reality is a Si/coni/cteyis, Tlio error was corrected by ^Xatschio 

 (/. c, 1899), who proposed the name larfochilus for the species 

 referred by Thomas to austvaUs, and added a third species, nanus; 

 the latter will have to stand as a local raeo of lactochihis. The 

 material preserved in the Leyden and Dresden Museums M'as 

 revised, and the results published, by Jentink, in 1902 (L c). 

 Finally, three new forms were added during the preparation of this 

 Catalogue. Subjoined a chronological table of the names proposed 

 for forms of this genus. 



'6 c 



