HIPPOSIDERUS, 281 



Geuus HIPPOSIDERUS, Gray (,1^31). 

 Syn. Phyllorhina, Bonaparte (1837), nee Leach ; Asellia, &c., Gray. 



The nose-leaf more or less square or oblong in form, and com- 

 plicated, consisting of three portions — anterior, median (or sella), 

 and posterior ; the anterior horseshoe-shaped or semicircular as in 

 Rhinolophus, resting flatly on the muzzle, but without any deep 

 incision, and, in most species, without even a notch, in front. 

 The nostrils open freely in the middle of the horseshoe, each is 

 generally partly or wholly surrounded by a lamina, and there is a 

 more or less pronounced longitudinal ridge between them. On each 

 side of the horseshoe there are, in several species, supplementary 

 leaflets forming a fringe. The pella does not come forward 

 between the nostrils ; it is a prominent transverse bar behind 

 them and divides the horseshoe in front from the posterior leaf 

 behind. The latter is never triangular : the hinder margin is 

 simply rounded in most species, tricuspid in a few ; it is usually 

 bent forward over the front surface of the leaf, which is generally 

 divided into shallow cells (as a rule four in number) by longi- 

 tudinal (antero-posterior) ribs (fig. 80 C, p. 268). Behind the 

 nose-leaf there is, in the males of several species, and to a smaller 

 degree in females, a large pore, being the orifice of a glandular sac, 

 which the animal can evert at pleasure like the finger of a glove ; 

 the opening is marked by a pencil of stiff hairs. At tlie sides of 

 the posterior leaf and abo^'e the eyes are one or more wart-like 

 prominences, sometimes bearing pores ; in some species these pro- 

 minences form a kind of fringe to the posterior nose-leaf. 



Dentition : i. |, c. J^, pm. 1^^, m. ^3. First upper premolar 

 minute, blunt, in the outer angle between the canine and second 

 premolar, rarely deciduous except in H. tridens and one other 

 species (not Indian), in which adults have pm. ^^. 



I have explained at full length elsewhere (P. Z. S. 1887, p. 637) 

 the reasons that have induced me to employ the name Hipposi- 

 derus for this genus instead of Phyllorhina, which is adopted by 

 Dobson and others. 



The genus Hipposiderus ranges throughout the tropical and sub- 

 tropical parts of Asia (including the Malay Archipelago), Africa, 

 and Australasia. It is not Palsearctic like Bhinolop>hus,nov\s it by 

 any means restricted in India to the hills and highlands. The 

 Indian species are not quite so numerous as those oi Rhinolophus, 

 but they are more generally diffused. 



Synopsis of Indian, Ceylonese, and. Burmese Species. 



A. Size large, forearm exceeding 3 inches. 



a. A large frontal glandular sac ; posterior 



leaf narrower than horseshoe ; forearm 



about 3'o H. armir/er, p. 283. 



b. No frontal sac ; posterior leaf not nar- 



rower than horseshoe ; forearm about 



3'4 H. diadeiiia. p. 284. 



