BATS. 



319 



5. Phyllostoma (leaf-mouth). This genus is so 

 named trim the leaf-like appendages which are 

 attached to the mouth, or rather to the nose, one of 

 which lias very much the form of a leaf, the other 

 more that of a horse-shoe. They have four front 

 teeth in each jaw, and five cheek teeth in each side of 

 both. The tail is wholly or partially detached from 

 the interfemoral membrane. The ears are large, 

 naked, and not united at their bases, but they have a 

 second membrane in the form of a triangular flap 

 notched at the sides. Their tongue is protrusile, and 

 furnished with papillae which adapt it for a sucking 

 instrument ; and the lips are also beset with fleshy 

 tubercles. The body, even in the largest species, is 

 not above six inches long, and the wings are ?hort in 

 proportion, which renders the flight fluttering and 

 apparently* laborious. It is to this genus that the vam- 

 pire bat, of whose leech craft so much has been said 

 and written, belongs. All the species are natives of 

 the warmer parts of the American continent. They 

 are usually divided into three sections: those which 

 have no tail, those which have the tail united to the 

 interfemoral membrane, and those which have the 

 tail free. 



(i. j\[egaderma (large skin). So called from the 

 great production of membrane about the nose and 

 ears. Their noses have the leaf still more compli- 

 cated than in the last genus. The inner appendage 

 of the ear is also large and often forked. The exter- 

 nal ears are united on the top of the head. Their 

 tongue is smooth, and not adapted for sucking, as in 

 the Phyllostoma. They are without tail; and the 

 interfemoral membrane is entire. They have four 

 front teeth in the lower jaw, but none in the upper; 

 and the intermaxillary bone is cartilaginous. They 

 are all natives of the hotter and more productive 

 parts of the eastern world, especially of tropical 

 Africa and the oriental islands. 



7. RMnulophus (crested nose). These are com- 

 monly styled horse-shoe bats. They have the nasal 

 membranes very complicated, and extending toward 

 the forehead in a shape which rudely resembles a 

 horse-shoe. The tail is long and united to the inter- 

 femoral membrane. They vary considerably in size, 

 but the largest does not exceed four inches in length. 

 They are all of them natives of the eastern world ; 

 most abundant in the Oriental Archipelago, but 

 in some of the species extending to Europe, includ- 

 ing England. 



8. Nyctcris. These have a longitudinal furrow 

 along the forehead, partly covered by duplicatures 

 of the integuments, but no membrane attached to the 

 nose. Their ears are very large, but not joined to 

 each other ; and their tails are included in the inter- 

 femoral membrane. They have a pouch on each 

 side of the mouth, opening into a sac formed by a 

 duplicature of the skin. They are of small size, with 

 the wings long in proportion; and inhabitants of the 

 eastern world, chiefly of Africa. 



9. Rhinopoma. The nose long, blunt, or apparently 

 truncated at the end, surrounded by a short mem- 

 ' ie, and the nostrils capable of being shut, at the 

 pleasure of the animal, by means of a membranous 

 operculum or lid. The ears large, united at their 

 bases, and the ends hanging over the lace, containing 

 an inner membrane. The interfemoral membrane 

 narrow, and straight at the posterior edge, riot ex- 

 tending to the extremity of the tail, which is long 

 and slender. This bat i's a native of Africa. There 



is said to be an American species, but it is, however 

 doubtful. 



10. Taphozous. These have a rotinded channel on 

 the forehead ; but are without any membranous 

 appendages to the nose. Their head is of a pyramidal 

 forin ; they have four front teeth in the under jaw, 

 which are three-lobed ; and in the upper they have 

 only two, and sometimes none. Their ears are not 

 joined to each other, and the tail is above the inter- 

 femoral membrane, and not attached to it. The males 

 have a cavity placed crosswise, on the throat. The 

 membrane is produced so as to form a small pouch on 

 the wrist. They are found in various places in the 

 warmer latitudes of the eastern world, especially in 

 Africa, and it is said that there are some species in 

 North America. 



11. Mormonps (owl-eyed bats). These have a 

 triangular membrane on each side of the face, extend- 

 ing from the nose to the ear, which forms a sort of 

 shade to the eye. The form of the head is much 

 more pyramidal than in the former genus ; and there 

 are four front teeth in each jaw, those in the upper 

 one very large. They are fonnd in the Oriental 

 Archipelago. 



12. Vcspcrtmo. This genus comprehends the 

 common bats, the species of which are very nume- 

 rous, and generally distributed over the globe. They 

 have no prolongation of membrane, save that which 

 they use in flight. They have four front teeth above, 

 the two in the middle pointed, and apart from each 

 other ; and they have six below, which are partly 

 trenchant, partly tuberculated or lobed at their points. 

 Their tail is included in the flying membrane. There 

 are several species natives of England. 



Pigmy Veii>ertilio. 



13. Plecotus (long-eared bats). These are with- 

 out any appendages to the nose, but the ears are very 

 much produced, the external ones being as long as 

 the head. The internal duplicatures are lancet- 

 shaped, and there is an operculum or lid to the 

 auditory passage. They are said to be found both in 

 the eastern and in the western world, and one species 

 is by no means of rare occurrence in England. See 

 figure p. 320. 



The best known British bats are, two species ot 

 the horse-shoe bat, the larger and the less ; three of 

 the common bats, the common, the margined and the 

 great, and two of the eared bat, the common and the 

 barbastel. The habits of bats are, however, so obscure, 

 that it is not easy to say that all the species in any 



