24 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



The species is one of the group of West Indian fruit-eating 

 bats, of which the genera Ardops, Phyllops, and Stenoderma 

 are related members. Of about the same size and appearance 

 as these, it may at once be distinguished by the possession 

 of only two instead of three upper molars (the minute third 

 molar of the other genera having been lost in Ariteus) and by 

 the presence of a "minute though evident metaconid" in the 

 first lower molar. As in the related genera, the nose-leaf is 

 lanceolate with a distinct midrib; the short interfemoral mem- 

 brane is concave behind and like the legs is covered with 

 rather long hair, forming a fringe along the posterior margin. 

 It is said to be light reddish brown in color, paler beneath, 

 and with a small white patch on each shoulder. There are no 

 facial stripes, and the tail is lacking. Length of head and body, 

 2.2 inches; forearm, 1.6 inches; tibia, 0.6 inch; hind foot, 0.4 

 inch. 



This genus may be regarded as the representative in Jamaica 

 of the genus Phyllops, from which the above characters dis- 

 tinguish it. Gosse (Gosse and Hill, 1851) writes that the first 

 specimen he secured came in at the open window of a house at 

 the Vineyard, near Black River, where he was staying. He 

 supposed that, like other bats that flew in and out, it was in 

 search of insects attracted by the lights. Three others he 

 succeeded in shooting in the early evening at Content, and 

 these are presumably the specimens listed by Dobson as in the 

 collection of the British Museum. Here a large and fruitful 

 naseberry tree (the nispero of the Spanish colonists) Achras 

 sapota attracted many bats by its large fruits, resembling 

 "a very rough russet apple, firm and fleshy, of a rich sugary 

 sweetness." At about a quarter of an hour after sunset the 

 bats began to visit the tree. "First one comes, takes a rapid 

 flight around the tree, darts once or twice through the dense 

 foliage, and winging away is lost in the light of the sky. Another 

 and another comes immediately, and performs the same evolu- 

 tions . . . By carefully following the flight of an indi- 

 vidual with the eye, we perceive that now and then he alights 

 for a moment on some object at the extremity of a bunch of 

 leaves ; but no sooner has the eye rested on the spot than the 

 sooty wings are again spread, and he is pursuing his giddy 

 course with his fellows. The object of his visit is a ripe nase- 

 berry, nestled in the midst of that rosette of leaves. Occa- 



