NrCTERIS. 161 



Subfam. II. NYCTERIN^. 



Nostrils at the anterior extremity of a deep longitudinal facial 

 groove ; tail long, produced to the hinder margin of the interfemoral 

 membrane. 



2. NYCTERIS. 



Nycteris, Geoffroy, Desmarest, Nouv. Diet. cPHist Nat. xv. p. 501 

 (1803) ; Descript. de VEgypte, ii. p. 113 (1812) ; Peters, MB. Akad. 

 Serl. 1870, p. 900. 



Nycteris et Petalia, Gray, Mag. Zool. Sf Bot. ii. p. 494 (1888). 



Nycteris, et Nycterops et Pelatia, Gray, P. Z. 8. 1866, p. 83. 



Muzzle cylindrical as in Megaderma, but shorter, and the lower 

 lip has a wart in front, with two much larger naked prominences 

 below ; the lower Up also slightly projects beyond the upper ; face 

 deeply grooved longitudinally, the sharp-edged groove extending 

 from the nostrils (which are on the upper surface of the muzzle near 

 its extremity) to the lower band connecting the bases of the ears ; 

 the posterior half of this groove is wider and more depressed than 

 the anterior, and its floor is divided by a very slightly elevated, 

 narrow, longitudinal ridge ; the sides of the depression are margined 

 as far back as the eyes by small horizontal cutaneous appendages ; 

 ears large, united by a low band, which in some species is scarcely 

 developed ; eyes small. 



Index finger consisting of the metacarpal bone alone ; fourth and 

 fifth metacarpal bones longer than the third ; wings ample, from the 

 base of the toes ; tail long, the terminal caudal vertebra "{"-formed j 

 no fibula ; mammae pectoral, not axillary. 



Dentition. Inc. |, c. y^, pm. ^~, m. |^. 



Upper incisors small, chisel-shaped, bifid or trifid, equal in ver- 

 tical extent, and close together in the centre of the space between 

 the canines (Plate XI. fig. 1, incisors of Nyctens hispida) ; second 

 lower premolar smaller than the first, often minute and internal to 

 the tooth-row. The frontal bones greatly expanded and flattened, 

 much more so than in Megaderma, and grooved by a deep depression 

 (Plate XI. fig. 2, skull of Nycteris javanica). 



Range. Ethiopian and Oriental Regions (in the latter Region as 

 yet recorded from the Malay Peninsula and Java only). Nycteris 

 thebaica extends slightly beyond the limits of the Ethiopian Region. 



Although the species of this genus differ very considerably from 

 those of the genus Megaderma in the form of the nose-leaf and in 

 the great length of the tail, the affinity of the two genera is shown 

 by the pecidiar form of the frontal bones, which are almost similarly 

 grooved and expanded (though in a less degree) in Megaderma frons 

 as in the species of Nycteris, also by the form and structure of the 

 ears, and by the great development of the integumentary system. 



In general structure Nycteris approaches the lihinolopMdn- more 



M 



