788 MELONTCTERIS. 



digit considerably lengthened, subequal to (in the foregoing il/ao-o- 

 qlossina much shorter than) metacarpal of same digit ; a similar 

 Ving-structure reoccurs in Nesonycteris and Notopieris. Inter- 

 femoral well developed along tibia;, scarcely detectable in centre ; 

 calcar normal. Forearm practically naked, tibia covered above; 

 colour of fur some tinge of cinnamon above, face and underparts 

 mucb darker (an unusual feature in Megachiroptera) ; forearm and 

 fingers pale, irregularly blotched with dark brown ; no external 

 secondary sexual characters (males without neck-tufts); general 

 size almost as females of Eovycteris spelcea, conspicuously larger 

 than in Megaloglossus, Macroglossus, and Syconycteris. 



Affinities. — As already noted on page 733, Melonycteris, Neso- 

 ■nycteris, and NofOjiterishaxe preserved two primitive (Insectivorous) 

 characters which are quite or nearly lost in all other Fruit-bats, 

 viz. a long infraorbital canal and broad upper extremities of the 

 premaxillee (in all other geuera the infraorbital canal is much 

 shortened, its outer wall in most genera only a narrow bridge 

 of bone, and the premaxilhe are usually subequal in breadth 

 throughout or even conspicuously narrower above than below). 

 With these primitive characters the three genera of this small 

 natural group of Macroglossince combine, however, a relatively high 

 degree of specialization ; they have developed essentially along the 

 same lines as MacrogJossus and Syconycteris, but in some respects 

 carried the specialization a few stages farther : the anterior upper 

 premolar (large in Macroglossus and Syconycteris) is reduced to a 

 mere rudiment or (in Notopieris) entirely suppressed ; the middle 

 lower incisor is reduced in size (Melonycteris) or absent (the two 

 other genera) ; the fifth metacarpal has become the longest, the 

 fourth the shortest, the third intermediate, and the second phalanx 

 of the third digit is considerably lengthened : they are in fact the 

 lono-est-winged Fruit-bats known (index of third digit in all three 

 genera from 2023 to 2071, the highest indices in other Fruit-bats 

 bein" 1952 in Syconycteris and about 1900 in Nyctimene and 

 Pteropvs). In dentition and at least one external character Melo- 

 nycteris is the least modified of the three genera : i^ is present and 

 the second digit clawed (claw lost in Nesonycteris and Notopteris) ; 

 but in the colour of the fur Notopteris is the most ordinary-looking 

 (sombre tinges like those of llonseiius, Konycteris, and many other 

 Fruit-bats), while in Nesonycteris the colours are brightened into 

 russet, cinnamon, or wood-brown (compare Macroglossxis), tinges 

 wbich reoccur in Melonycteris though on the face and underparts 

 considerably darkened with seal brown. 



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