2 6o BA TS , 



tubes, reaching rather beyond the extremity of the muzzle. Such a structure, 

 except to a less degree in one group of insect-eating bats, is quite unparalleled 



elsewhere in the whole class of Mammals, 

 and gives to the creatures such an extraor- 

 dinary appearance that it is difficult to be- 

 lieve at first sight that it is natural. So 

 far as we are aware, no suggestion has been 

 yet made as to the probable reason for this 

 tubular prolongation of the nostrils, although 

 it is, doubtless, of some special advantage to 



these bats, of whose habits we have, in- 



HEAD OF TUBE-NOSED FRUIT-BAT. j j , n r * TM. ^ t- 



(From Dobson,^.^/. S oc., * 77 .) deed > Poetically no information. The tube- 

 nosed fruit- bats are further distinguished by 

 the small number of their teeth, of which the total is only twenty-four. 



THE CUSPED-TOOTHED FRUIT-BAT 



Genus Pteralopex 



In our brief survey of the fruit-bats we must not omit mention of a rather large 

 species recently discovered in the Solomon islands, which is remarkable for the pe- 

 culiar structure of its teeth. This bat, which is of a uniform dark-brown color, has 

 the general external characteristics of the fox-bats, with which it also agrees in the 

 number of its teeth, but the muzzle is much shorter and thicker. The peculiarity of 

 the teeth is that the molars have a series of cusps, almost obliterating the longitudi- 

 nal grooving characteristic of those of all the fruit-bats. The presence of these 

 cusps clearly shows that the cusped-toothed fruit-bat is the descendant of a connect- 

 ing form between the insect-eating bats and the fox-bats ; and it is upon the evidence 

 of this species that naturalists now regard all the fruit-bats as derived from bats 

 with fully cusped teeth like those of the insectivorous species. The Solomon islands 

 form a group lying to the east of New Guinea, and extending in a southeasterly 

 direction from New Ireland ; and it is just such remote spots as these which appear 

 to be the most favorable for the survival of ancient connecting types of animals like 

 the species under consideration. 



THE L,ONG-TONGUED FRUIT-BATS 

 Genus Carponycteris, etc. 



All the fruit-bats hitherto noticed are characterized by the tongue being of 

 moderate dimensions, and the well-developed molar teeth. We come now, however, 

 to a small group comprising seven genera (each represented by only a single species), 

 all of which are distinguished by their long and slender tongues, terminating in re- 



