On a Natural Arrangement of the Chiroptera. 345 



XLVII. — Conspectus of the Suborders, Families, and Genera 

 of Chiroptera arranged according to their Natural Affini- 

 ties. By G. E. Dobson, M.A., M.B., F.L.S., &c. 



The system of classification described in this paper having 

 been adopted by me in the MS. of my descriptive Catalogue 

 of the Asiatic Chiroptera, I here anticipate its publication, 

 with the view of expressing more fully my reasons for classi- 

 fying the genera according to a plan differing in some im- 

 portant points from those previously used *, and also for the 

 purpose of pointing out some important structural characters, 

 of great value in the systematic arrangement of the families and 

 genera, hitherto either unnoticed or insufficiently recognized. 



The Chiroptera fall naturally into two subdivisions which 

 may be called suborders, hitherto known as Chiroptera frugi- 

 vora and Chiroptera insectivora ; but as those names have not 

 been framed in accordance with the accepted rules of zoolo- 

 gical nomenclature, and as, moreover, the second part of the 

 name of the second suborder has been previously applied to an 

 order of Mammals, I use here instead the terms Megachiro- 

 ptera and Microchiroptera to express these divisions respec- 

 tively. These terms are relatively correct ; for, although some 

 species of the Carnivorous Bats very much exceed in size many 

 species of the Frugivorous, nevertheless the Frugivorous Bats 

 taken collectively are very much larger than the Carnivorous, 

 contrasting with them in size almost to the same extent as, 

 among other Mammals, the Ungulata contrast with the Car- 

 nivora. 



Order CHIROPTERA. 

 Suborder I. MEGACHIROPTERA. 



Crowns of the molar teeth smooth, marked with a longitu- 

 dinal furrow ; bony palate continued behind the last molar, 

 narrowing slowly backwards ; index finger generally termi- 

 nating in a claw ; sides of the ear-conch forming a complete 

 ring at the base ; pyloric extremity of the stomach greatly 

 elongated. 



Frugivorous. 



Limited to the tropical and subtropical regions of the eastern 

 hemisphere and Polynesia. 



* Two complete systems only, of classifying the genera of Chiroptera, 

 have been published — that of Prof. Peters in 1865 (MB. Akad. Berlin, 

 1865, p. 256), and that by Dr. J. E. Gray in a series of papers to be found 

 in the ' Ann. & Mag. Nat, Hist.' and in the ' Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud.' for 

 1866. 



