ORDER CARNASSIER. 113 



But in truth this want of two incisors can be considered 

 as no anomaly, but when we class the two species in ques- 

 tion with the roussettes. For, in pursuing the examina- 

 tion of their characters, we shall soon establish in all 

 their principal organs other analogous differences, which 

 must oblige us to refer them to a distinct and particular 

 type. We shall thus avoid deranging a genus so accurately 

 limited as that of the roussettes. 



The molar teeth of the cephalotes, though closely resem- 

 bling those of the roussettes, are not, however, of an iden- 

 tical form with them. The upper jaw has two less, viz., 

 the small anterior molars before mentioned. The last but 

 one is also proportionally longer. Finally, those of the 

 lower jaw are straiter, and the first is so small that it is 

 covered by the gum and scarcely perceptible. The effect 

 of detrition on their coronals is also remarkable in these 

 teeth. In the roussettes the bony substance is more worn 

 than the enamel, but in the cephalotes both are equally so. 

 The surface of these teeth, and especially that of the back 

 molars is altogether plane. This is characteristic of herbi- 

 vorous animals alone. Must we conclude from this that 

 the cephalotes do not use exactly the same regimen as the 

 roussettes ; that they do not even eat the sweeter kind of 

 fruits but content themselves with a simpler kind of vege- 

 table nutriment ? 



The organs of motion in the cephalotes exhibit a propor- 

 tional difference, as in the parts just described. The wings 

 are conformed as in the mantled roussette. The common 

 teguments, as in that very singular species, are elevated on 

 the central line of the back, and from those a lamina which 

 becomes the point of departure for the membranes, which are 

 elongated over the arms, and extended between the fingers. 



Pallas gives us nothing similar in his description of the 

 vespertilio cephalotes. But an arrangement so strange and 

 novel might well have escaped him. At least we may be 



Vol. IT. I 



