CHIROPTERA. 597 



The two sub-orders of bats may be contrasted as follows : — 



Megachiroptera. 



MlCROCHIROPTERA. 



Frugivorous bats, usually large. 



The molars have smooth crowns, with a 

 longitudinal groove. 



The thumb is clawed, and generally also 

 the second digit. 



The tail, if present, is below, not bound 

 up with the interfemoral membrane. 



The pyloric part of the stomach is in most 

 cases much elongated. 



Found in warm and tropical parts of the 

 Eastern hemisphere. 



Examples : — 



The " flying; foxes" or fox- bats {Piero- 

 Pus), large, tail-less bats, distributed from 

 Madagascar to India, Ceylon, Malaya, 

 S. Japan, Australia, Polynesia. The lar- 

 gest species (/". edulis) measures five feet 

 across its spread wings. Dentition, W^\. 



In India, Cynoptertts marginattis is 

 very common. Xantharpyia (sgypiiacei 

 inhabits the Pyramids. Notopteris -mac- 

 donaldi from New Guinea, has a very 

 long tail. 



Usually insectivorous bats, small in size. 



The molars have cusped crowns, with 

 transverse grooves. 



In,the hand the thumb only is clawed. 



The tail, if present, is bound uis with the 

 interfemoral membrane, or lies along 

 its upper surface. 



Except in one family the stomach is 

 simple. 



Found in the tropical and temperate re- 

 gions of both hemispheres. 



Examples :— 

 The horse-shoe bats {Rhinoiophus), the 

 common pipistrelle {Vesperugo , pipistrei- 

 lus\ the genus Vesperiilio with four Bri- 

 tish species, Vanipyrus spectrutn a large 

 Brazilian form, which seems to have been 

 erroneously credited with blood-sucking 

 habits, the common vampire {Desmodus 

 rufus) an American bat— a formidable 

 blood-sucker. 



Order 9. Lemuroidea. Lemurs. 



Opinions differ as to whether the monkey-like animals 

 known as Lemurs should be ranked with monkeys as a sub- 

 order of Primates or referred to a separate order. In many 

 ways they are primitive and divergent. Thus, they differ 

 from the monkeys (Anthropoidea) in the following character- 

 istics : — The orbit opens freely into the temporal fossa 

 (except in Tarsius) ; the lachrymal foramen lies outside the 

 orbit ; the first pair of upper incisors are separated in the 

 middle line (except in Chiromys) \ the cerebral hemispheres 

 are but slighdy convoluted and do not completely overlap 

 the cerebellum ; " the middle or transverse portion of the 

 colon is almost always folded or convoluted on itself;" there 

 may be abdominal mammse ; the uterus is bicornuate ; the 

 placenta is diffuse. The dentition of Lemurs varies greatly ; 

 in some it is Ifli 



