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 Phyllonycterinae from a Hemidermine stock. 
Family DESMODONTIME. 
1831. Vespertiliones ( Vespertilionidce ) (part; Phyllostomina, part) Bona- 
parte, Saggio di una clistrib. metodico degli Anim. Vert., p. 15. 
1838. Vespertilionidce (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, Sclireber’s Saugtliiere, Sup- 
plements, I, p. 375. 
1842. Phyllostominece (part) Lesson, Nouveau Tableau du Regne Animal, 
Mamm., p. 30. 
1845. Desmodina Bonaparte, Cat. Met. Mamm. Europ., p. 5. 
1855. [ Phyllostomidce ] “ 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. Hcematophilina Huxley, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 388. 
1866. Phyllostomidce (part; Desmodina ) Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 
p. 118. 
1872. Desmodidce Gill, Arrangement of the Families of Mammals, p. 16. 
1875. Phyllostomidce (part; Phyllostomina^, part; Desmodontes) Dobson, 
Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4tli ser., XVI, p. 350, November, 1875. 
187 S. Phyllostomidw (part; Phyllistomince, part; Desmodontes ) Dobson, 
Catal. Chiropt. Brit. Mus., p. 545. 
1886. Desmodontidce Gill, Standard Natural History, V, p. 175. 
1891. Phyllostomatidce (part; Phyllostomatince, part; Desmodont division) 
Flower and Lydekker, Mammals Living and Extinct, p. 676. 
1892. Phyllostomatidce (part; Phyllostomatini, part; Desmodontes) Wince, 
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 Phyllostomidae 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 long ago as 1839, and again in 1872 and 1886 by Gill, the Desmo- 
