CHAPTER XI 

 BATS concluded 



THE FREE-TAILED INSECTIVOROUS BATS 



THE chief distinctive features of this group are that, as a rule, the tail (when 

 present) either penetrates the membrane between the legs, so that its extremity 

 appears on the upper surface, or it is produced considerably beyond the hinder 

 margin ; secondly, that the innermost (frequently the only) pair of upper incisor 

 teeth are generally of large size, and placed very close together ; and, thirdly, 

 that except in two genera, each represented by a single species, the first joint of 

 the third or middle finger of the wing is, when at rest, folded back upon the upper 

 surface of its supporting metacarpal, instead of being extended forward in the 

 same line, as in the species we have hitherto described. Not a single representative 

 of this large assemblage of bats is found in the British Isles, and, indeed, only one 

 species occurs within the limits of the European area. They are mainly character- 

 istic of tropical and subtropical regions ; but whereas the first of the two families 

 into which they are divided ranges over both Hemispheres, the second is strictly 

 confined to the central and southern portions of the Western. The number of genera 

 to say nothing of species included in the two families is very large, and as many 

 of them are distinguished from one another by comparatively trivial characteristics, 

 we shall notice only a few typical forms of special interest either from peculiarities 

 of structure or of habits. 



THE SMOOTH-NOSED FREE-TAILED BATS 



Family EMBALLONURID^E 



The first family of the group occupies a position precisely similar to that held 

 by the Typical Bats ( Vespertilionidce) in the other branch of the insect eaters treated 

 in the preceding section. In addition to the peculiar mode of folding the third 

 finger of the wing, and the characteristics of the tail already alluded to, they are 

 distinguished by the circumstance that there are but two bony joints in this third 

 finger, as also by the absence of any distinct nose-leaf. As a rule, they have a 

 small tragus in the ear, and only a single pair of upper incisor teeth, which incline 

 towards one another. Moreover, the extremity of the snout is obliquely truncated 

 from above downwards, so as to cause the nostrils to project more or less in front of 

 the tip of the lower jaw. The family is widely distributed over the warmer regions 

 of both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, and includes one of the two species 



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