45 
The breadth is in some measure occasioned by the fingers being 
more expanded than is usual in other Pteropodide, especially by 
the space between the index and longest finger being wider than is 
usual. The thumb, which is long, has its basal half enclosed in the 
antibrachial membrane, which further assists in giving greater 
breadth to the wing. The wings, as noticed by Mr. Bennett and 
Mr. Ogilby, are situated farther back than is usual in the allied 
genera, and the antibrachial membrane, maintaining its full breadth 
from the side of the body to the carpus, contributes also towards 
giving the base of the wings a backward appearance, whilst in 
Pteropus this membrane narrows as it approaches the wrist, and 
does not, therefore, bring that part so far forward in relation to the 
base as in Epomophorus*. Another peculiarity in the organs of 
flight, remarkable as occurring in the Frugivorous Bats, but usual in 
the Insectivorons ones, is that their membranes spring at once from 
the sides of the body, instead of being attached along the sides of 
the vertebral column, more or less near to it in the different genera. 
The form of the head varies very greatly in the different species 
of Epomophori, but the lips seem constantly to present that extra- 
ordinary amount of development which induced M. Temminck to 
apply to one of the species the specific name of /abiatus. In so far 
as can be gathered from the inspection of these parts in skinned 
specimens, rendered soft for the purpose of examination, they appear 
to be quite simple—the lips of an ordinary Pteropus very much en- 
larged. There is nothing about the form of the nostrils which does 
not occur in the genera Pteropus and Pachysoma. The ears are 
rather small, simple, and ovoid. 
The tail is rudimentary, scarcely more than a mere tubercle, and 
the interfemoral membrane margins the legs and coccyx as in 
Pteropus. The feet moderate, with the wing-membranes extending 
to the hase of the toes, and attached to the upper surface of the 
second + one, as in Pferopus and Pachysoma. 
With the comparatively greater development of the cutaneous 
system in Epomophorus is associated what may probably be regarded 
as a higher degree of development in the membranes themselves. 
Instead of the thick and leathery wings of the true Pteropi, they 
have membranes more or less translucent, and strongly marked with 
lines and papillze, as in some of the Insectivorous genera. As the 
_ * L regret that I have not been able to examine specimens otherwise preserved 
than in skin, or mounted. In these it appears to me that the humerus is of great 
length in relation to the fore arm, and this, unless the wing be perfectly expanded, 
must bring the elbow in a more backward position than if it were shorter. When 
we consider that the wing-bones necessarily in all cases spring from precisely 
the same part of the body, it must be evident that the more backward appear- 
ance in one case than in another is due either to some modification in the form 
of the wings themselves, or to the mere elongation of the neck of the animal. In 
the excellent figure given by Dr. Peters of £. crypturus, the length of the hu- 
merus and peculiar form of the wings are well shown. 
+ The one next to the outer one in the ordinary position of the foot of a Bat, 
but in reality the one next the inner one of other Mammalia. 
