THE COMMON FRUIT-BATS, OR FOX-BATS 253 



molars having nearly, or quite smooth crowns, elongated from back to front, and 

 divided by a deep longitudinal groove ; such a type of tooth being obviously as 

 admirably adapted for mashing up pulpy fruits, as the cusped teeth of ordinary bats 

 would be unsuited. The wings of fruit-bats may be at once distinguished from 

 those of all other kinds by having three (instead of one or rarely two) joints in the 

 second or index finger, as shown in our figure of the skeleton ; but the metacarpal 

 bones, or those between the wrist and the fingers, must not be confounded with the 

 proper bones of the latter. Moreover, the terminal joint of the second finger is 

 generally provided with a claw ; whereas in other bats the thumb alone is thus 

 furnished. Then, again, a fruit-bat may always be distinguished by its ears, of 

 which the sides of the projecting portion, or conch, are united at the base so as to 

 form a complete ring ; the ears, as we have already incidentally mentioned, being 

 invariably of small size, and unprovided with an inner tragus. The last distinctive 

 feature of the group that it will be necessary to mention here is that the tail, if 

 present at all, is always short, and is situated beneath the membrane between the 

 hind legs, with which membrane it may have no connection. There are certain 

 other characteristics of the group which require a considerable amount of anatom- 

 ical knowledge for their due appreciation, and which we accordingly pass over. 



Many considerations lead to the conclusion that the fruit-bats are a specialized 

 group, which have been derived by adaptation from ordinary insectivorous bats ; 

 and this view has been remarkably confirmed by the comparatively recent discovery 

 of a peculiar species, which, while agreeing with the rest in the general structure of 

 its molar teeth, differs in that these teeth retain cusps representing those of the 

 insect-eating group. 



THE COMMON FRUIT-BATS, OR FOX-BATS 

 Genus Pteropus 



The best known of the group are the so-called fox-bats, or flying-foxes, taking 

 their name from their long fox-like faces, of which a group is represented in the 

 colored plate, and a single example in the illustra- 

 tion on the next page. These bats, constituting the 

 genus Pteropus of naturalists, are characterized by 

 their large size, the presence of thirty-four teeth 

 (among which there are two pairs of incisors and 

 three premolars in each jaw), the total absence of 

 a tail, the long and fox-like muzzle, and the thick 

 coat of woolly fur with which the neck is covered. 



Fox-bats are found in India, Ceylon, Burma, 

 the Malay Archipelago, the Seychelles, Mada- 

 gascar, the Comoro islands, the south of Japan, HEAD OIf WAI^ACE'S FOX-BAT. 



... . , (From Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc.) 



and most of the islands of the Pacific (the Sand- 

 wich and some other groups excepted), as well as in Papua and Australia. 

 Curiously enough, they are quite unknown in Africa, although common in the 



