280 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
cannot say adorned) with curious leaf-like appendages, often of most complicated construction (see some 
of the illustrations), and these organs, as has already been stated, probably assist materially in the 
exercise of that delicate sense of touch which supplements or takes the place of the power of vision hi 
guiding the Bats in their obscure abodes. In general, the presence or absence of nasal appendages bemo- 
an exceedingly obvious character, has been adopted by zoologists as the means of classifying these Bats, 
and the order has been commonly divided into two groups — the Istiophora, or those with a nose-leaf 
and the Gymnorhina, or Anistiophora, in which there is no such appendage. Mr. Dobson, who has 
devoted a great deal of attention to the Chiroptera, finds, however, that by following this system 
certain forms are grouped together which have little in common, whilst in other cases real affinities are 
lost sight of, and he suggests another mode of division, which, for many reasons, appears to be the 
most natural that has hitherto been proposed. He ranges the families of his Mierochiroptera in two 
alliances, the leading characters of which may be briefly indicated as follows : — 
In the first, or Vespertilionine alliance , so called from its including our common Bats (Vesper- 
tiUones), the tail is generally long, never absent, and always entirely enclosed in the interfemoral 
membrane, with the exception of the extreme tip, which projects a very little ; the pre-maxillary bones 
are rudimentary, and the upper incisor teeth which they cany small and weak ; and the first phalanx 
of the middle finger is extended in repose in a line with the metacarpal bone. 
In the second, or Emballomirim alliance , so called from one of the genera included in it, the tail, 
which is frequently absent or short, except in two or three species, is not contained within the 
interfemoral membrane, but has its extremity free, usually perforating the membrane and appearing on 
its upper surface. The pre-maxillary bones are generally well developed, and the incisors large; 
and the first phalanx of the middle finger is folded forward in repose above or below the metacarpal 
bone. 
The character derived from the condition of the middle finger in repose seems to be regarded as of 
the most importance by Mr. Dobson, who says that it is connected with differences in the habits of 
the animals ; but those of the tail and incisor teeth will be most useful to the student in determining 
to which alliance he is to refer his specimens ; and, although they are liable to exceptions in the second 
group, will never both fail in the same individual. 
A striking confirmation of the naturalness of this arrangement is to be found in the fact that even 
the microscopic character of the fur differs in the two alliances. In the first, 
the longer hairs of the fur when magnified show a series of scales, imbricated or 
partly overlapping each other, something like the grains of corn in the ear, the 
tips, which are not acute or very prominent, forming a sort of spiral line round the 
surface of the hair (see Fig. a). In the second alliance, on the contrary, the scales — 
which are smaller and narrowed, with acute and projecting tips — are arranged 
in rings round the hail', giving it a somewhat jointed appearance (see Fig. b). 
Mr. Dobson has examined the fur of a majority of the genera of these Bats, and 
also submitted his specimens to the examination of Dr. J. D. Macdonald, F.R.S., 
and both these gentlemen find the differences in the structure of the hair always 
perfectly in accordance with the arrangement above indicated, with but two ex- 
Mono- ceptions, one of them being a genus which really forms a sort of connecting 
HAIRS OF BATS, 
NIFIED. 
(From Dob ton's 
graph of Asiatic Bats.") 
link between the two alliances, and the other having fur quite different from 
that of any other Bat, and in which the scales can hardly be distinguished. 
VESPERTILIONINE ALLIANCE. 
FAMILY II. — RHINOLOPHID2E, OR HORSESHOE BATS. 
The Bats of this family are usually called Horseshoe Bats, from the circumstance that their noses 
are furnished with leaf-like membranous appendages of rather complicated structure, the front part of 
which is usually something like a horseshoe in its form (see figure on next page). The nostrils are situated 
within this horseshoe, between it and the other parts of the nose-leaf, which vary considerably in their 
shape and structure. The middle finger has two phalanges, or joints, beyond the long metacarpal bone, 
