SPECIES OF PTEROPINE BAT. 35 
small molars. According to these modifications several genera have been proposed ; 
and others might, doubtless, be created on the same principles and to a considerable 
extent. Thus the genus Pteropus of M. F. Cuvier has the full number of teeth above 
mentioned. If the false molars in each jaw be omitted, the dental formula is that of 
Macroglossus, F, Cuy. If the false molars be retained, and the posterior small molars 
be omitted, the formula is then that of Cynopterus, F. Cuv. The loss of two incisors 
from each jaw, and the retention of molars like those of Macroglossus, constitutes the 
character of the genus Cephalotes, Geoff. The absence of all incisors except two in the 
upper jaw, and the presence of the full number of molars, belongs to the genus Har- 
pyia, F. Cuv. The removal from the Pteropine formula of the false molar from the 
upper jaw and of the small posterior molars from both jaws, would constitute a dentary 
character for Epomophorus: but it seems to me more advisable to abstain from regard- 
ing that genus as constituted until better opportunities have been secured for the clear 
understanding of the organs of flight in the animals apparently referrible to it. 
In the Bat that constitutes the typical example of this group the head is more length- 
ened than is usual in the Pteropide, a character in which it accords with the Pter. ma- 
crocephalus. Its other characters of external form, excepting as regards the position of 
the alar membranes, are common to it with the remainder of the animals comprehended 
in the family. In the skin, as preserved, there is no vestige of a tail: but this organ, 
when it exists in the Pteropi, is in so rudimentary a state as to be easily destroyed or 
overlooked, and can exercise no perceptible influence on the habits of those species that 
possess it. 
The fur of the body is closely set and soft ; and consists of slightly wavy hairs which 
are generally of a moderate length. It extends along the anterior extremities nearly as 
far as the wrist, densely covering the limbs; and is equally furnished on the hinder 
limbs as far as the ancle. The interfemoral membrane is entirely invested with fur ; 
and a band of short hairs passes along the hinder edge of the flying membranes for 
some distance from the ancle. On the flying membranes, in the part that intervenes 
between the bones of the arm and leg, a few very short adpressed hairs are implanted 
in small distant tufts, as in other species. The hairs of the large humeral tufts are 
much longer than any of the others, and are perfectly straight ; they are not, however, 
harsh or rigid, and, when minutely examined, are not found to differ in the type of 
their construction from the rest of the fur. 
In this Pteropus, as in other Bats, the hairs of the body generally have a serrated 
appearance along their margins, when seen under a high magnifying power; and thus 
exhibit a tendency to become decompounded, which may be regarded as analogous in 
some measure to the decomposition of the feathers of Birds. But the projecting points 
of the sides of the hairs in Bats are not the tips of processes laterally given off from a 
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