90 RHINOLOPHIDZE. 



The whole of the singular family to which the present 

 genus belongs, are distinguished by the existence of a 

 cutaneous development upon the nose, which in some is 

 simple^ in others more or less complicated. In the genus 

 Rhinolophus these nasal appendages are complicated, con- 

 sisting of a posterior and anterior portion, the former 

 of which is erect, hastate, or lanceolate, and placed at the 

 base of the forehead ; the latter shaped somewhat like a 

 horse-shoe (from whence the various names which have 

 been given to these Bats have been derived), bordering 

 the upper lip, extending backwards to the posterior leaf, 

 and enclosing the nostrils within its arch. 



The use of this very remarkable structure it is per- 

 haps difficult to explain. Geoffroy has suggested that it 

 may be intended to close the nostrils when they are not 

 required to be brought into use ; and he instances some 

 analogous modes of closing the orifices of other organs 

 of sense. But when the extent and complication of 

 these foliaceous structures are considered, and compared 

 with the small simple orifice of the nostril, which could 

 be more readily and effectually shut by a simple valvular 

 thickening of one of its margins, there is so obvious a 

 want of relation between the object and the means of 

 effecting it, as to render such a supposition wholly un- 

 tenable. It is more consistent with probability, however, 

 when we consider that the Leaf-nosed or Large-eared 

 Bats possess the singular power, to which we have be- 

 fore adverted, of threading their way through intricate 

 places, without the assistance of eyes, to suppose that 

 these singular membranous expansions may be in some 

 way instrumental in the performance of these hitherto 

 explained movements. That the simple-nosed species, 

 having at the same time comparatively thick and leathery 

 membranes, do not possess the power alluded to, we 



