294 



BATS. 



North-East Africa, through India, to Burma. It has 28 teeth, of which \ on each 

 side belong to tlie incisor, and i to tlie cheek series. Its most distinctive feature is, 

 however, its very long and slender free tail, which projects far beyond the margin 

 of the very short membrane between tlie legs, and thereby distinguishes it at a 

 glance from all other bats. It is further quite peculiar in that the second or index 

 finger of the wing has two joints. Another feature, of less import, although that 

 which has given the scientific name to the genus, is the presence of a fleshy 

 prominence on the muzzle, just over the nose ; this prominence having been 

 incorrectly regarded as a rudimentary nose-leaf. In specimens taken in India 

 during the cold sea.son, there is an enormous accumulation of fat around the tail 

 and thighs, which is sometimes so large as to exceed the weight of the i-est of the 

 body : the accumulation being similar to that ah'eady noticed as occurring in the 

 naked-bellied tomb-bat and doubtless serving the same purpose. According to Mr. 

 Blanford, " this species is common in North- Western India, and hides during the 

 day in caves, clefts in rocks, old ruins, and similar places. In Cutch it takes up its 

 abode in wells. Jei-don relates that in Madras, in 1848, many were captured in a 

 house for three successive nights, having probabl}' been blown by strong westerly 

 winds from the rocky hills to the westward. The species is not of common 

 occurrence in Madras. According to Blyth, this species formerly abounded in the 

 Taj at Agra (it may still be fouml there), and Cantor found numbers inhabiting the 

 subterranean Hindu place of worship within the fort at Allahabad." 



The Mastiff-Bats. 



Genus Molossus. 



With the mastifl'-bats, which take their name from a supposed resemblance of 

 their broad wide-mouthed muzzles to the head of a mastifl", we come to the fir.st 

 representatives of the second subfamily of this division, the members of which are 



characterised by the thickness of their tails, which (with 

 a single exception) are prolonged for a considerable 

 distance beyond the hinder margin of the membrane 

 between the hind legs. The legs are short and stronsr, and 

 the feet of great relative width ; while the thumbs of the 

 wings have curious callosities at their bases; and the 

 upper incisor teeth are of large size, and limited to a single 

 pair. As in all these bats, the feet are completelj- free 

 from the wing - membranes, which can be comfortably 

 folded up and stored away between the fore-arms and the 

 legs, and the membi-ane between the legs can be retracted 

 to a greater or less extent by being moved backwards 

 and forwards along the tail. In the strength of their limbs, in the development 

 of the corn-like callosities at the bases of their thumbs, as well as in their large 

 and flat feet, and the freedom of their feet fi'om the wing-membranes, the mastifl'- 

 bats and their allies are more adapted for crawling on the ground than anj^ other 

 membei-s of this group of animals. And the result of observations on livinjr 



HEAD OF MASTIFF-BAT. (From 

 Dobson, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1878.) 



