GLOSS0PHAe.!5. 497 



Group 2. GLOSSOPHAG^. 



Glossophagse, Pders, MB, Akad. Berl. 1865, p. 257, 1868, p. 361. 



Muzzle long and narrow ; tongue remarkably long and extensible, 

 much attenuated towards the tip, the sides or upper surface near 

 the tip with long filiform recurved papillae ; lower lip with a wide 

 groove above and in front margined by small warts ; nose-leaf small, 

 the horizontal portion scarcely developed in front of the nasal aper- 

 tures, which open above, near the extremity of the muzzle; tail 

 short or none. 



71 .•■• T 4 2—2 2—2 S— 3 2—2 3—3 2—2 2—2 



Dentitwn. Inc. j or ^, pm. .^^ or g::^ or '^^, m. 535 or 3^ or ^^- 



Premolars and molars very narrow, their antero-posterior much 

 exceeding their transverse diameter ; molars with narrow W-shaped 

 cusps, which are sometimes indistinct or absent ; lower incisors very 

 small or deciduous. 



Range. Tropical parts of the Neotropical Region- 



The species of this group are at once distinguished from all other 

 species of Phyllostomidce by their long and much attenuated tongue 

 dothed with filiform papillae, and by the deep groove in the upper 

 surface of the centre of the lower lip. In other respects the tj'pical 

 species, Olossophaga soridna, so closely resembles OarolUa hrevi- 

 cauda, both in external form and in dentition, that it has not un- 

 frequently been confounded with that species, which must there- 

 fore, as well as Rhinophylla pumilio, be regarded as connecting 

 links between the Vampyri and the Ghssophac/ce, 



The only other Bats possessing similarly long tongues beset with 

 filiform papillae are the frugivorous Macroglossi, belonging to the 

 widely removed family Pteropodidm ; and, judging from analogy, we 

 should expect to find that the Olossophagm were, like the Macro- 

 glossi, frugivorous in their habits, while the form of their teeth 

 would lead us to suppose that they were also insectivorous. That 

 these views are correct appears to be shown by the observations of 

 Mr. W. Osbum* and by those of the Prince of Neuwiedf. The 

 former found that Phyllonycteris sezekorni feeds on the bread-fruit 

 and on berries of Cordia collococca, with the debris of which the 

 floors of the caves inhabited by this species were thickly strewn ; 

 the latter discovered remains of insects in the stomachs of Glosso- 

 phaga sorieina and of Lonchoglossa wiedii. 



It is probable that the species with well-developed interfemoral 

 membrane (as Olossophaga soridiia and Ohcerotiycteris mexicana) are 

 chiefly insectivorous, while those in which the membrane is small 

 or quite rudimentary feed principally on fruit. 



The ten species included in this group represent seven genera, 

 which are distinguished principally by differences in the form and 

 number of the teeth, and by the presence or absence of the zygomatic 

 arches. The form and position of the upper incisors are extremely 

 variable. In Olossophaga and Phyllonycteris the upper incisors 

 form, as in the Vampyri, a continuous row between the canines ; in 



» P. Z. S. 1865, p. 83. t Beitr. zur Naturgesch. Brasil. ji. pp. 212, 217. 



2 K 



