70 
MAMMALIA. 
The Dinops of M. Savi refers to 
these Molossines with six inferior 
incisors. There is one of them in 
Italy (Dinops cestonii, Savi). 
M. Geoffroyhas applied the name 
NyctonowMS to those which have 
four inferior incisors. 
The Molossines were at first dis- 
covered only in America ; but we 
now know several from both con- 
tinents. Some of them have the 
hinder thumb placed farther from 
the other digits than these are 
from each other, and capable of 
Fig. 10. — Head of Dysopus tenuis. 
separate motion ; a character on which, in one species where it is very strongly marked. Dr. Horsfield has 
established his genus Cheiromeles [the ears of which, also, ditfer in being widely separated]. 
It is probable that we should also place here the Thyroptera of Spix, which appears to have several cha- 
racters of the Molossines, and the thumb of which has a little concave palette peculiar to them (fig. 10, a), by 
which they are enabled to cling more closely. [Several species of this genus agree in possessing this appendage, 
which is proportionally larger in the; 
young. 
As a whole, the group of Molossines is ;i 
extremely distinct and insulated, thoughj 
consisting of a vast number of species,'| 
of which about twenty may be considered t 
established; six or seven of these ap-| 
pertain to the eastern hemisphere. The| 
largest and most curious of them isj 
D. cheiropiis, Tern. {Cheiromeles, Horsf.';| 
fig. 11), from Siam, which measuresl 
nearly two feet across : it is quite naked, 
with the exception of an abrupt collar 
of hairs round the neck. 
Several have the upper lip laterally 
pendent (fig. 10), whence the name 
Molossus or Mastiff; and the term 
Dysopus refers to the toes being more 
or less tufted with hair. The greater 
number of species are from Brazil and, 
Paraguay.] < m 
Fig. 11.— Dysopus cheiropus. 
The Noctules (Noctilio*, Lin. Ed. xii.) 
Muzzle short, inflated, and split into a double hare-lip, marked with odd-looking warts and grooves ; 
ears separate ; four incisors above and two below ; tail short, and [possibly in some] free above the inter- 
femoral membrane ; [limbs much elongated, the hinder very large and stout, and furnished with strong 
claws ; the volar membranes are attached high upon the back, in some almost meeting dorsally, as in the 
Cephalot and some Roussettes.] 
The most generally known species is from America. {Vesp. leporinus, Gm.), of a uniform fulvous. [Others 
have been found on the same continent : and Celceno, Leach, was founded on an imperfect specimen, which is 
still extant. The Noctules are allied to the true Bats {Vespertilio) ; and a group which appears to be somewhat 
intermediate, but with a more elongated muzzle, is the Emballonura, Kuhl (Proboscidea, Spix), of which four 
species have been described from South America, and a fifth from Java. Pteronotus, Gray, is probably a Noctule, 
with a longer tail than usual ; and Myopteris, Geoff., and also Aello, Leach, do not seem to differ essentially.] 
The Phyllostomes {Phyllostoma, Cuv. and Geoff.) 
The regular number of incisors is four to each jaw, but some of the lower ones frequently fall, 
being forced out by the growth of the canines ; [the second false molar is generally elongated] . They are, 
moreover, distinguished by the membrane, in the form of an upturned leaf, which is placed across the 
end of the nose. The tragus of their ear (fig. 12) resembles a leaflet, more or less indented. Their 
tongue, which is very extensile, is terminated by papillae, which appear to be arranged so as to form 
The division Noctilio was unaccountably ranged by Linnaeus among his Glires, or the Rodentia of our author.— Ed. 
