ORDER CARNASSIER. 129 



family to which has been given the generic name of Me- 

 gadermes. They are thus named, because in them the 

 cutaneous system is carried to its full extent. When we 

 devote ourselves to researches on the natural affinities of 

 beings, we sometimes meet with continued series in orga- 

 nization. The Megadermes form a true intermediate link, 

 which unites the phyllostomata to the rhinolphi : but this 

 link remains perfectly circumscribed. It is a group, on 

 each side of which are intervals or hiatuses very strongly 

 marked, and which is as completely separated from the 

 phyllostomata as from the rhinolphi. 



The character which forms the common bond between 

 these three families, is the singular apparatus in the form 

 of conchs at the entrance of the nasal cavities : still it 

 is very different in the three genera. In the phyllostomata 

 it is simple; rather complicated in the megadermes ; and so 

 much so in the rhinolphi that it is not very easy to form a 

 precise notion of it from description. 



The Megadermes, which are provided with the additional 

 ear, and are destitute of a tail, must not be confounded with 

 the rhinolphi ; in this respect, they approximate more to the 

 phyllostomata, though differing from them in other very 

 essential points. Their tongue is short, and without any 

 furrow, at least, at the extremity. It is without warts 

 or papillae of any kind, and, consequently, not organized 

 for the purposes of suction. Their lips, also, which are 

 hairy and tuberculous, are not more adapted for the same 

 operation. 



In none of the bat tribe are the organs of sense more 

 powerfully seconded by the cutaneous system. The wings 

 are of a very great extent, though they do not possess the 

 unguical phalanx, which it is so surprising to find in the 

 phyllostomata, on the third finger. They have, propor- 

 tionally, as much breadth as length, and reach to the 

 hinder-feet, between the fourth and fifth toe. 



Vol. II, K 



