384 ME. OLDFIELD THOMAS ON MAMMALS 



Genus Hakpyionyctekis Thos. 

 Harpyiomjderis Thos., Aim. Mag. N. H. (6) xviii. p. 243 (1896). 



Index with a claw. Wings from the sides of the hairy back, inserted behind at the 

 junction of the first and second toes. No tail. Hind limbs apparently very short. 

 Interfemoral membrane obsolete, buried in thick fur. 



Dentition.— I. ' C. i P. I M.-f X2=28 or 30. 



1 or 0' 1' o' A 



Teeth (Plate XXXV. figs. 1-4). Upper incisors large, touching each other and the 

 canines ; shaped, when viewed in front, almost like those of Desmodus, each with a 

 long oblique cusp touching its fellow in the middle line of the skull, but in section 

 each is broadly triangular, with a broad posterior basal ledge. Canines with a large 

 posterior secondary cusp, about half as high as the main cusp, and with a broad 

 postero-internal basal ledge, but no additional internal cusps ; its direction much more 

 slanting forward than usual, as is the lower canine also, so that the two cross each 

 other nearly at right angles, instead of being approximately parallel. First two 

 premolars about as in Cynopterus. Molars oblong in section and of a peculiar cuspidate 

 character, the lateral longitudinal walls to the usual median groove broken up into 

 several minute cusps, none of which are at all specially lengthened. Below, the 

 incisors are practically obsolete, being minute and almost crowded out 1 by the large 

 canines, which touch each other in the middle line, and have each an antero-internal 

 and a postero-external secondary cusp and a broad posterior ledge. 



It is difficult to say with certainty to what previously known genus this remarkable 

 form is most nearly allied. Its peculiar canines to a certain extent recall those of 

 Harpyia, but this resemblance may be either accidental or due to their common 

 descent from the (presumably) cuspidate-toothed ancestors of the Pteropodidse 2 . On 

 the whole it may be most conveniently placed near Xantharpyia and Boneia, with 

 which it shares certain external characters, an indical claw, and the cheek-tooth 

 formula of P. f , M. f ; but the unique incisors, the short bi- and tricuspidate canines, 

 and the multicuspiclate molars separate it widely even from these, and render it one 

 of the most isolated of all the genera of the group. Its skull and dentition are 

 figured on Plate XXXV. figs. 1-4. 



Harpyionycteris whiteheadi Thos. (Plate XXX. fig. 1.) 



Size about as in Xantharpyia amplexicaudata. Fur soft, close and woolly, especially 

 posteriorly. General colour of the fur all over, above and below, a uniform chocolate- 

 brown, a little darker on the face, and a little lighter on the nape and shoulders. 



1 In the single type-specimen one lower incisor only is present, the other having fallen. 



2 See P. Z. S. 1888, p. 473. 



