34 MR. E. T. BENNETT ON A REMARKABLE 
incisors and canines of the same form and number as the rest of the genus, but there 
are only three molars in the upper and five in the lower jaw. The incisors are small 
and regular: the canines of intermediate size: the first false molar in the lower jaw is 
small and of the normal form, but the second in this jaw and the first in the upper are 
of the same form as the canines and very little inferior to them in size, so that when the 
mouth is opened there appear to be four canines in each jaw ; next follows in either jaw 
a tooth with a large lobe upon the outer edge and a smaller one within, which is of 
intermediate form between the true and false molars ; after which come two normal 
molars in the lower and one in the upper jaw. All the molars are separated from one 
another by a vacant space on each side: this gap is particularly large between the real 
and spurious canines or first false molars in the upper jaw, the corresponding space in 
the lower having in its middle the small false molar already mentioned.” These words 
describe so correctly the form, position, appearance, and number of the canine and 
molar teeth in my specimen, that it is unnecessary to do more than quote them as 
fully descriptive of its dentition so far as those teeth are concerned. The incisors, 
however, present a slight deviation in one respect, which can only be regarded as acci- 
dental: there are on the left side three of these teeth in the upper jaw. The upper 
incisors are small, conical, and pointed: the lower are expanded towards their tips, 
and somewhat lobed. 
So perfect an agreement in dentary characters between three animals inhabiting the 
same country, and distinguished by those characters from all other known species, 
would apparently indicate the necessity of distinguishing them as a separate group: 
but the dentary characters of the Bats seem to vary so irregularly that it would be 
hazardous to rely on them alone for generic distinctions. The organs of locomotion, 
and the appendages to the organs of the senses, furnish, in all their variations, im- 
portant elements in the construction of the genera of Bats: and with the latter is con- 
nected even the grand division, indicated also by the form of the molar teeth, into 
fruit-eating and insectivorous. But the number of the teeth is of far less moment. 
That of the incisors is notoriously different in the same individual at various periods of 
its life. The molar teeth also are equally liable to vary by the presence or absence of 
the first or of the last of the series, either singly or conjointly. 
In the Pteropide the normal number of the teeth appears to be thirty-four, of which 
sixteen belong to the upper and eighteen to the lower jaw. In Pteropus, as restricted 
by M. F. Cuvier, there are four incisors in the upper jaw; two canines ; two false 
molars ; six true molars; and two small posterior molars: in the lower jaw there are 
four incisors ; two canines ; two false molars ; eight true molars ; and two small poste- 
rior molars. This full and perfect set of teeth is liable to modification by omissions in 
various ways: among the incisors; among the false molars ; and among the posterior 
