470 THTLLOSTOMIDJE. 



1. Vampyrus spectrum. 



Vespertilio spectrum, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. xii. p. 46: Sehreb. Sdmetk. 



i. p. 159, pi. xlv. (1775). 

 Phyllostoma spectrum, Geoff. Ann. du Museum, xv. p. 174, pi. xi. 



(head and skull). 

 Vampyrus spectrum, Leach, Trans. IJnn. Soc. xiii. p. 80 (1822) ; 



Tomes, P. Z. S. 1861, p. 104 ; Peters, MS. Akad. Berl. 1865, 



p. 504. 



This species may be at once distingmshed by its large size and 

 peculiar physiognomy. It is the largest known species of Bat from 

 the New World, being considerably larger than Phyllostoma hasta- 

 ium, which approaches it most closely in size. 



Head very long, muzzle long arfd narrow, the eye is much closer to 

 the ear than to the extremity of the muzzle ; ears large, but shorter 

 than to the head, oval, evenly rounded off above, the inner margin of 

 the conch regularly convex, the outer slightly so in upper three 

 fourths, forming near its anterior termination in front of the base 

 of the tragus a small thickened process ; tragus abruptly narrowed 

 on both sides in its upper third, terminating in a narrow needle- 

 shaped process, lower two thirds of the outer and inner margins 

 convex, at the base of the outer margin a square-sided lobe suc- 

 ceeded above opposite the base of the inner margin by a small tooth- 

 like projection ; nose-leaf broadly lanceolate-ovate, the erect portion 

 nearly as broad as the horseshoe at its base, horseshoe with a pro- 

 jecting free margin expanded and bent upwards laterally ; lower 

 lip and chin with a wide groove in front, bounded by a narrow 

 naked ridge on either side. 



Wing-membrane extending to the end of the proximal third of 

 the outer toe ; feet rather small ; calcaneum three fourths the length 

 of the tibia ; iuterfemoral membrane large, extending, when ex- 

 panded, beyond the feet; tailnooe. 



Fur short above and beneath, scarcely extending upon the mem- 

 branes ; face in front of the ears nearly naked ; under surface of the 

 body very thinly clothed. Above reddish brown ; beneath reddish 

 yellow. 



Canines, in both jaws, very large, encroaching so much on the 

 space occupied by the incisors that the outer incisors above and be- 

 neath are pressed forwards partially out of the tooth-row ; upper 

 middle incisors rather short, chisel-shaped, with straight, unnotched 

 cutting- edges ; first upper premolar with a short cusp and a long 

 posteriorly projecting base meeting the anteriorly projecting base of 

 the second premolar, so that the cusps of these teeth are widely 

 separated (Plate XXIV. fig. 3 a) ; upper molars narrow, with very 

 acute, long, W-shaped cusps, and with a broad flat-crowned horizon- 

 tal projection from their posterior sides scarcely raised above the level 

 of the gum ; last upper molar consisting of a transverse lamina 

 only ; lower molars much narrower, their long, acutely pointed, ante- 

 rior cusps received into the deep spaces between the inner halves of 

 the upper molars, which touch by their cusps externally. The 



