173 



Linnseus having previously made use of the name in another branch 

 of zoology, it has been proposed by Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte 

 to substitute that of Furipterus. The latter name will be here 

 adopted, and as the opportunity of examining a second species has 

 occurred, it will afford the means of confinning the generic characters 

 given by the original describer, and also supply some additional pe- 

 culiarities. 



Genus Furipterus, Bonap. 



The top of ihe head is very much elevated, leaving a deep hollow 

 between that and the end of the nose. The muzzle is very short, 

 rather sinall, and abruptly truncated at the end. This gives the end 

 of the nose something the appearance of that part in the genus Sus, 

 and the similarity is increased by the superior margiu being produeed 

 in an upward direction, as iu that genus. The end of the snout may 

 properly be called a disc, vvidest at its base, and having a slio-ht 

 eraargination in the middle of its upper boundary. In this disc the 

 nostrils are placed, small, directed straight forvvard, and nearly 

 round. Between them is a narrow vertical groove, continuous from 

 the emargination of the upper border of the disc. 



Ali the face is densely covered with soft long hair, only the flat 

 end of the nose and the extreme margins of the lips being naked. 

 Near to the edges of the lips, and about the corners of the mouth, 

 the fur assumes the aspect of a beard. Around the upper margin of 

 the nose-disc is a friuge of fine short silky hairs. 



The ears are rather large and broad, directed forward, and deeply 

 concave within. Their inner margins project inwards and forvvards 

 over the forehead in the shape of a rounded lobe. Their extremities 

 are rather acute and directed outwards. 



The tragus is shaped somewb.at likę the head of an arrow, sup- 

 ported on a narrow foot-stalk. It is short and rather broad, with a 

 descending barb or point on each side, the outer one being the ionger 

 and more acute. From these it tapers rapidly to a narrow, but 

 rounded tip, directed a little outwards. 



The most remarkable peculiarities in the organs of flight consist 

 in the excessively small size of the thumb, and the shortness of the 

 middle phalange of the longest finger. The thumb has the basai 

 joint much Ionger than the terminai one. It is wholly engaged in 

 the antibrachial membrane, the nail only being free. The phalange 

 of the finger, above alluded to, has its length contained three and a 

 half times in that of the terminai one, and six times iu that of the 

 basai one. The middle phalange of the third finger also is somewhat 

 shorter than is usual in most VespertilicnidcB. 



The wing-membranes extend to the distal end of the tibia. The 

 legs are loug and slender, and the heel cartilage very long. Ali the 

 membranes are thickly marked with fine dotted lines, the interfemoral 

 having not less than twenty-five. In this respect they bear consider- 

 able resemblance to those parts in Rhinolophus and Nycteris. 



The cerebral part of the skull is excessively elevated, quite dome- 

 shaped, and the facial portion very much depressed. 



