176 BULLETIN 57, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



upper edge of noseleaf . Erophylla is less highly modified than Phyl- 

 lonycteris, and the peculiarities of its dentition may indicate the 

 descent of the subfamily Phyllonycterinas from a Hemidermine stock. 



Family DESMODONTID^. 



1831. Vespertiliones (Vespertilionidw) (part; Phyllostomina, part) Bona- 

 parte, Saggio di una distrih. metodico degli Aniiu. Vert, p. 15. 



1838. Vespertilionidw (part; Phyllostomina, part) Gray, Mag. Zool. and 

 Bot, II, p. 486, December, 1838. 



1839. Hcematophilini Waterhouse, Zoology of the Voyage of H. M. S. 

 Beagle, II, Mammalia, p. 3. 



1840. Istiophora (part; Desmodina) Wagner, Schreber's Saugthiere, Sup- 

 plement., I, p. 375. 



1842. Phyllostominece (part) Lesson, Nouveau. Tableau du R6gne Animal, 



Mamm., p. 30. 

 1845. Desmodina Bonaparte, Cat. Met. Mamm. Europ., p. 5. 

 1855. [Phyllostomidw] " Phyllostomides " (part ; Desmodina, part) Gervais, 



Exped. du Comte de Castelnau, Zool., Mamm., p. 30. 

 1865. Phyllostomata . (part ; Desmodi) Peters, Monatsber. k. preuss. Akad. 



Wissensch. Berlin, p. 257. 



1865. Hwmatophilina Huxley, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 388. 



1866. Phyllostomidw (part; Desmodina) Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 

 p. 118. 



1872. Desmodidw Gill, Arrangement of the Families of Mammals, p. 16. 

 1875. Phyllostomidw (part; Phyllostominm, part; Desmodontes) Dobson, 



Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist:, 4th ser., XVI, p. 350, November, 1875. 

 ISIS. Phyllostomidw (part; Phyllistominw, part; Desmodontes) Dobson, 



Catal. Chiropt. Brit. Mus., p. 545. 

 1886. Desmodontidw, Gill, Standard Natural History, V, p. 175. 



1891. Phyllostomatidw (part; Phyllostomatinw, part; Desmodont division) 

 Flower and Lydekker, Mammals Living and Extinct, p. 676. 



1892. Phyllostomatidw (part; Phyllostomatini. part; Desmodontes) Winge, 

 Jordfundne og nulevende Flagermus (Chiroptera) fra Lagoa Santa, 

 Minas Geraes, Brasilien, p. 24. 



Geographic distribution. — Warmer parts of America, north to 

 southern Mexico. 



Characters. — Like the Phyllostomidse in respect to the wing, pec- 

 toral girdle, and pelvis, except that the tuberosities of the hume- 

 rus are more nearly equal in size, and both more distinctly exceed 

 head. Fibula large, extending to head of tibia. All the long bones 

 of the leg and wing deeply grooved for accommodation of muscles, 

 this especially noticeable in tibia, fibula, and femur. Teeth very 

 highly specialized for cutting, all trace of crushing surface being 

 absent, and cheek teeth so reduced that the length of entire upper 

 row is less than that of canine along alveolus. Stomach a slender 

 caecum-like structure. Nostrils surrounded by dermal outgrowths 

 that form a very rudimentary noseleaf. 



History. — Although recognized as a distinct group by Waterhouse 

 as iong ago as 1839, and again in 1872 and 1886 by Gill, the Desmo- 



