CHEIROPTERA. 77 



PTEROPODID.E OR ROUSETTE BAT FAMILY. This 

 Family is made up of bats which are fitted to subsist 

 wholly or in part upon vegetable food. Their grinders 

 have the crowns flat or furnished with rounded eminences 

 for grinding or bruising food, their stomach is complex, 

 and intestines very long. They inhabit the tropical re- 

 gions of Africa and India, and are the largest of all the 

 bats. They are often called Flying Foxes. The Genus 

 Pteropus is the principal one. 



The Kalong Bat, P. edulis, Geoff., of Java, has the head 

 like that of a fox, and an expanse of wings of more than 

 four feet ! 



MEGADERMATID^E OR HORSE-SHOE BAT FAMILY. 

 This Family comprises insectivorous bats which have an 

 excessive development of a nasal appendage called the 

 nose-leaf, and which have exceedingly large and united 

 ears. Their nose-leaf is somewhat complicated in its 

 structure, and is formed of membraneous folds. The 

 members of this family belong mainly to the Indian 

 Archipelago and to Africa, where they live in dark cav- 

 erns. They have often been called Horse-shoe Bats, from 

 the form of the front of the nose-leaf. 



The Genus Macrottts is represented in North America 

 by a single species, M. californicus, Baird. 



PHYLLOSTOMATID.E OR VAMPIRE FAMILY. This Fam- 

 ily comprises bats which, like the Megaderms, are remark- 

 able for the development of their nasal appendage and for 

 their large ears, but which have the appendage simple 

 and fleshy, and their ears separate ; and their teeth and 

 tongue are so arranged that they can make incisions in 

 the flesh of other animals and suck their blood. They 

 inhabit tropical America 



The Genus Phyllostoma is the principal one. 



The Vampire Bat, P. spectrum, Linn., is about the size 

 of a magpie, and has a spread of wing of more than two 

 feet 



