1865.] OF DESMODUS RUFUS. 389 
rate size or very small. Before they are worn, the crowns of the 
molar teeth are divided into two ridges by a longitudinal furrow. 
The pyloric region of the stomach is greatly elongated; the uterus 
is two-horned. 
In the Insectivora, or ENromopHaGa, there are foliaceous de- 
velopments of the integument of the nose, or of the ears, or of both. 
The upper incisor teeth are of moderate size, or are very small. The 
molar teeth have V-shaped cusps, and do not exceed = or fall 
below = in number. The index is not only devoid of anail, but has 
frequently no bony phalanx at all, and never possesses more than 
two ossified phalanges. The stomach is either like that of the 
Carnivora or is globular, the cardiac and pyloric orifices being closely 
approximated. The uterus is pyriform. 
Lastly, in the Hamaroruixina the integumentary appendages 
of the nose and ears are small or rudimentary. The index is devoid 
of a nail, and has only a single phalanx. The median upper incisors 
are enormous, and are alone retained in the adult. The two pairs of 
lower incisors are small and pectinated. The molars are =, with 
crowns rising to a sharp longitudinal ridge. If the other species of 
Desmodus and Diphylla are like Desmodus rufus, the cesophagus is 
very narrow, and the stomach has an immense cardiac cecum in 
this group. 
The substance of the above remarks was contained in a lecture 
upon the organization of the Cheiroptera, which formed part of my 
course at the Royal College of Surgeons during the present year. I 
was not at that time aware that my friend Prof. Peters, of Berlin, had 
already noted the anomalous character of the stomach of Desmodus 
in the pages of a work upon the Mammalia which is at present un- 
published, but which we may hope will not long remain so; and 
from a proof-sheet of which I quote the following passage :— 
“4, Subfamily Desmodi...... The stomach is very small, 
and has, on the left side (not at the pylorus), an intestiniform ap- 
pendage 1 to 2 inches in length.” 
Further, I gather from this proof, and from conversation with 
Prof. Peters, that he regards Desmodus merely as a somewhat aber- 
rant member of the subfamily of the Phyllostomata, and not as the 
type of a primary division of the Cheiroptera. The peculiarities of 
the dentition of the Desmodi are, he considers, foreshadowed by 
the Stenodermata, containing the genera Stenoderma, Chiroderma, 
Sturnira, Brachyphylla, and Centurio, the true molar teeth of which 
are distinguished by having an external cutting, or notched margin, 
and usually acute cusps on the middle of the masticating surface ; 
while they never have the V-shaped cusps of their allies, and are 
said to live exclusively on fruits. In several of these genera the total 
number of molar and premolar teeth does not exceed four on each 
side, above and below—a character which is also to be regarded as an 
approximation towards the extreme reduction observed in Desmodus. 
Professor Peters’s acquaintance with the Bats is so extensive and 
