ORDER CARNASSIER. 103 



finger 6f the hand provided with a nail, and with the pha- 

 lanx belonging to it, and the only ones which are deprived 

 of the second external ear, or at least of that part of the ear 

 which is formed by the replication and excessive develop- 

 ment of the tragus. Their tongue is rough and papillous, 

 and their teeth, in form and number, resemble those of the 

 simiae. One peculiarity in these teeth must not be over- 

 looked ; the smallness of the first and last molar, prevents 

 their being of any great utility in mastication, but the other 

 molars supply this defect by being considerably larger. They 

 have, upon the whole, a form which is not found in any 

 other animal ; their coronals are not bristling with tuber- 

 cles ; they present a long and straight surface, the plane of 

 which is oblique, and detrition exercises its action more on 

 the centre than on the edges, which project in sensible 

 ridges. The inspection of these molars would be sufficient, 

 (had not observation already established the fact,) to prove 

 that the habits and dietetic regimen of the roussettes are 

 different from those of the bats of our climates. 



Their osteological characters are much the same as those 

 of our bats, except that their shoulder-blade is more trian- 

 gular than square; the cubitus, almost effaced in the other 

 bats, is more apparent and more disengaged from the ra- 

 dius, which it accompanies for about two-thirds of its 

 length. The sternum forms a very strong projection, and 

 the first sternal piece, more large, more robust, and more 

 deeply separated in front, reminds us of the form and uses 

 of the furca in birds. 



The second finger of the wing is half-turned from within 

 outwards, an effect perhaps of the development of the mem- 

 brane during flight. It is a little less so, in the metacarpian 

 phalanx, more in the penultima, and still more in the un- 

 guiculated phalanx. The consequence is, that the nail, at- 

 tached to the extremity of this last phalanx, is in a situation 

 exactly opposed to the plane or direction of the wing. This 



