346 Mr. G. E. Dobson on a Natural 



Suborder II. MICROCHIROPTERA. 



Crowns of the molar teeth acutely tubercular, marked by 

 transverse furrows ; bony palate narrowing abruptly, not con- 

 tinued laterally behind the last molar ; index finger generally 

 terminating in a claw ; sides of the ear-conch commencing 

 anteriorly from separate points of origin ; stomach simple, or 

 with the cardiac extremity more or less expanded or elongated. 



Carnivorous, feeding principally upon insects *. 



Inhabiting the tropical and temperate regions of both hemi- 

 spheres. 



Suborder I. MEGACHIROPTERA. 



Family I. Pteropidse. 



Synopsis of Groups of Allied Genera. 



A. Tongue moderate ; molars well developed. Group 1. Pxeropi. 



(Pteropus, Brisson ; Cynopterns, F. 

 Cuvier ; Cynonycteris, Peters ; Harpyia, 

 Illiger ; Epomophorus, Bennett ; Cepha- 

 lotcs, Geoff.) 



B. Tongue very long ; molars weak, scarcely 



elevated above the gum Group 2. Mackoglossi. 



(Macroglossus, F. Cuvier; Eonycteris, 

 Dobson ; Notopteris, Gray.) 



Suborder II. MICROCHIROPTERA. 



Analytical Table of Natural Families. 

 A. Tail contained within the interfemoral membrane. 

 a. Middle finger with two phalanges f. 



a'. First phalanx of the middle finger extended (in repose) in 

 a line with the metacarpal bone. 

 a". Nostrils opening in a depression on the upper surface of 

 the muzzle, surrounded by foliaceous cutaneous appen- 

 dages. 

 a'". Tragus none ; premaxillary bones rudimentary, repre- 

 sented by thin osseous laminae suspended from the 

 nasal cartilages in the centre of the space between 

 the canines Rhinolophidae. 



* Some species of Phyllostomidse, especially the species of the group 

 Stenodermata, have been shown to he frugivorous ; but they are probably 

 carnivorous also. In form their teeth in no respect resemble those of 

 Megachiroptera ; but the true molars, in their narrow external cutting- 

 edges, resemble those of Carnivora even more so than those of the truly 

 insectivorous species with their W-formed cusps. 



t Except in Thyroptera tricolor and in Mystacina tubercidata. 



