THE FAMILIES AND GENERA OF BATS. 
107 
Geographic distribution . — Tropical and temperate portions of the 
Old World, east to the Philippine Islands, New Guinea, and north- 
eastern Australia. 
Characters . — Humerus with trochiter about as large as trochin and 
definitely articulating with scapula by an articular surface half as 
large as glenoid fossa., both tubercles rising slightly above level of 
head, epftrochlea large and with well-developed styloid process, capi- 
tellum nearly in line with shaft; second manal digit consisting of 
well-developed metacarpal alone; third finger with two phalanges; 
shoulder girdle highly abnormal, the seventh cervical vertebra and 
first dorsal so completely fused that their boundaries can not be 
detected; these are fused with first rib, which in turn is fused with 
presternum and ventral half of second rib, the region between which 
is completely filled with bone, the presternum appearing to be 
enlarged to form a broadly crescentic plate; foot normal, the hallux 
with two phalanges, the other toes with three; fibula complete, thread- 
like; pelvis abnormal, the ischium and pubis so reduced in size that 
dorsal and ventral profiles of innominate bone are nearly parallel, 
their width at the same time so increased that the thyroid foramen is 
scarcely more than twice as large as the acetabulum ; lumbar vertebrae 
showing no tendency to become fused, but centrum of fifth or sixth, 
often of both, with distinct bifid or double hypophysis; skull with- 
out postorbital processes and with premaxillaries represented by ligu- 
late palatal branches only, the two bones partly cartilaginous, and 
fused neither with each other nor with maxillaries ; palate so deeply 
emarginate both anteriorly and posteriorly that its median length 
is less than least distance between tooth rows; teeth normal; ears 
large, without tragus; muzzle with conspicuous leaflike cutaneous 
outgrowths consisting of a horizontal anterior horseshoe, a perpen- 
dicular median sella, and a posterior erect lancet. 
Remarks . — The large ears without tragus, the conspicuous nose- 
leaves, and the normal feet are the characters by which the members 
of this family are most easily recognized. The degree of fusion of 
the elements of the shoulder girdle, and the very remarkable hy- 
pophyses of the fifth and sixth numbar vertebrae further distinguish 
the group. 
History . — Associated with the Vespertilionidae by the earlier writ- 
ers, the family Rhinolophidae appears to have been first recog- 
nized as distinct by Gervais in 1854. With it were combined the Hip- 
posideridae. Its separation, from the latter took place in 1875 when 
Dobson recognized two subfamilies of Rhinolophidae, the Rhinolo- 
phinae and Phyllorliininae. The only departure from this arrange- 
ment was made by Winge, who placed Megaderma and Nycteris in 
the family Rhinolophidae, reduced the family as generally understood 
to the rank of a subfamily, and the two, subfamilies to sections, 
