EMBALLONURID& 669 



able for feeding on fish a circumstance which has only recently 

 been fully authenticated. 



The remaining genus of this subfamily is regarded as repre- 

 senting another division, which may be known as the Rhinopoma- 

 tine division. 



Rhinopoma. 1 This genus, represented by the single species 

 R. microphyllum, might also be elevated to the rank of a family, for it 

 is difficult to determine its exact 

 affinities, a kind of cross relationship 

 attaching it to the Nycteridce on the 

 one hand and to this family, in which 

 it is here placed provisionally, on the 

 other. This species, distinguished 

 from all other Microchiroptera as well 

 by the presence of two phalanges in FIG. 314. skull of Rhinopoma micro- 

 the index finger as by its remarkably !*. xa. (Dobson, Monogr. Asiat. 



j i j t. -i i- Chiropt.) 



long and slender tail projecting tar 



beyond the narrow interfemoral membrane, inhabits the subterranean 

 tombs in Egypt and deserted buildings generally from North-East 

 Africa to Burma. 



Subfamily Molossinse. Tail thick, produced far beyond the 

 posterior margin of the interfemoral membrane (except in Mysta- 

 cops) ; legs short and strong, with well-developed fibula ; upper 

 incisors strong. This subfamily includes all the species of Embal- 

 lonuridce with short and strong legs and broad feet (whereof the 

 first toe, and in most species the fifth also, is much thicker than 

 the others, and furnished with long curved hairs), well-developed 

 callosities at the base of the thumbs, and a single pair of large 

 upper incisors occupying the centre of the space between the 

 canines. In all the species the feet are free from the wing- 

 membrane, which folds up perfectly under the forearm and legs ; the 

 interfemoral membrane is retractile, being movable backwards and 

 forwards along the tail, and this power of varying its superficial 

 extent must confer upon these Bats great dexterity in quickly 

 changing the direction of their flight, as when obliged to double in 

 pursuing their swift insect prey, Avhich their extremely expansible 

 lips evidently enable them to secure with ease. Like the preceding 

 subfamily, the genera may be arranged in divisions, of which there 

 are two. 



The Molossine division is characterised by the production of the 

 tail beyond the posterior margin of the interfemoral membrane ; it 

 includes three genera. 



Chiromeles. 2 Dentition : i i, c ^, p 4-, ra f ; total 26. Hallux 

 much larger than the other toes and separable from them, ears 



1 Geoffrey, Descript. de I'Egypte, vol. ii. p. 123 (1812). 

 - Horsfield, Zool. Research Java (1824). 



