THE FAMILIES AND GENEKA OP BATS. 243 



orbital processes; premaxillaries with nasal branches present or ab- 

 sent, when present forming two palatal foramina, when absent 

 allowing the formation of one ; posterior orifice of antorbital canal not 

 enlarged; teeth normal; ears variable in size and form, sometimes 

 joined across forehead, the tragus much reduced, the antitragus usu- 

 ally very large, the anterior border of auricle never with basal lobe ; 

 muzzle obliquely truncate, usually sprinkled with short, modified 

 hairs with spoon-shaped tips," the nostrils usually opening on a 

 special pad, the upper surface of which is often set with fine horny 

 excrescences; wing narrow; the fifth finger much shortened; mem- 

 branes thick and leathery, the uropatagium short, the tail projecting 

 conspicuously beyond its free edge. 



History. — This group has been recognized as a distinct family by 

 Peters, Gill, and Ameghino. By most other writers it has been re- 

 garded as of subordinate rank. Gray placed it in 1821 among the 

 ' Noctilionidse,' a family including the ' Molosses,' ' Nyctinomes,' 

 ' Stenodermes,' and ' Vampyre,' of Geoffroy. Ten years later it was 

 joined with the Vespertilionidse by Bonaparte, where it was retained 

 by subsequent authors, including Gray, in 1838, until 1865, when 

 Peters first made it a distinct family. In 1866 Gray reverted to his 

 family Noctilionidse, now modified to contain the subfamilies Noc- 

 tilionina, Mystacina, Mormopsina, Phyllodiana ('Phyllodia,'' Chi- 

 lonycteris, and Pteronotus), Spectrellina, and Molossina. Dobson 

 united it with the Mystacina? to form the subfamily Molossinse, of the 

 family Emballonuridse, the other groups of equal rank being the Noc- 

 tiliones, Rhinopomata, Taphozoi, and Emballonurse, these four con- 

 stituting the subf mily Emballurinse. The same arrangement, slightly 

 modified, was repeated in the ' Catalogue of Chiroptera,' and has re- 

 mained in general use until now, though not adopted by Gill in 1886, 

 and conspicuously departed from by Winge in 1891. 



Remarks. — The characters of the leg and wing seem quite sufficient 

 to warrant the recognition of the Molossidse as a family distinct from 

 the Vespertilionidse. In the perfect development of the-double articu- 

 lation of the shoulder joint, together with the great narrowing of the 

 wing, this family represents the extreme phase of the series of modi- 

 fications through which the anterior limb of the Chiroptera has 

 passed. The peripheral position of the group is further indicated by 

 the structure of the leg, in which the fibula has become a functional 

 part of the mechanical scheme, an arrangement which, except in the 

 related family Mystacopidse, is not known to occur elsewhere among 

 bats. 



" Jablonowski, Abh. u. Ber. d. k. Zool. u. Anthrop.-Ethn. Mus. zu Dres- 

 den, VII, 1899, No. 7, pp. 32-55, pis. x, xi. 



