C16 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
extend down to within about a quarter of an inch of the ankles, and the heel-spurs are about as long 
as the tibia. The body is covered with short 
dark-brown fur, which extends over the bases of 
the wings, and down the interfemoral membrane 
a*s far as the point where the tail emerges 
from it. 
This is the species originally discovered by 
Geoffroy in the chambers cf the Pyramids, and 
other tombs and buildings in Egypt. It is 
head or male AND female loxg-armed dat. a- Dobson.) said also to inhabit Sennaar and Senegal. It 
flies in the evening, passes the day in the 
darkest places it can find, and feeds exclusively upon insects. These habits, indeed, appear to be 
common to all the species of the genus. * 
THE EGYPTIAN RHINOPOME.f 
Tli is Bat, described by the French traveller and naturalist Belon, about the middle of the sixteenth 
century, under the name of the Egyptian Bat (Chauve-Souris d’Eyyptv), is one of the most singular 
members of the order Chiroptera. It presents so 
curious a combination of characters that its place in 
the system has always been uncertain ; and owing 
to the presence of a small nose-leaf, it has hitherto 
been arranged by different writers with the Phyllo- 
xtomata , the RIdnolophidcv , and the Nycteruhr. Its 
true place, according to Mr. Dobson’s recent re- 
searches, appears to be with the Emballonuridce , with 
whicn, and especially with the Taphozoi , it certainly 
agrees closely in the form of the skull and the 
dentition. This view of the relationships of the genus Rhhiopoma seems also to have struck Cuvier, 
who, while placing the genus next to Nycteris , makes Tapkozous immediately follow it. 
The genus is characterised by having the crown of the head considerably elevated, with a deep 
concavity in the forehead between the eyes, as in Tapliozous ; the muzzle considerably elongated 
beyond the opening of the mouth ; the nostrils of valvular structure, situated in the anterior margin of 
a very small, erect nose-leaf, which bears some resemblance to those of the Pliyllostonies ; the ears 
rather large, united upon the forehead (a Nycterid character), and furnished with a well-developed 
tragus ; and the tail long and slender, and free throughout almost its 
whole length from the interfemoral membrane, which is exceedingly 
short. The upper incisors are two in number, and of very small size, 
inserted in intermaxillary bones which unite with the maxillaries 
by slender processes, a character which also occurs in EmbaUunura. 
In the lower jaw there are four incisors in a close row. The canines 
are strong, and followed on each side by a single pre-molar in the 
upper, and two in the lower jaw ; and there are three true molars with 
W-shaped cusps on each side in both jaw's : thus the dental formula 
is — incisors, !=!, canines, 1=1, pre-molars, kd, molars, gj. The index 
finger consists of three joints, a metacarpal bone and two phalanges, a structure which occurs in no 
other Insectivorous Bats. 
* Other described species of the genus are : — Tapliozous lonr/imanus, with a large throat-sac in the male, found in India, 
Ceylon, and Burmah ; T. mdanopogon, with no throat-pouch, but usually with a small black beard under the chin (see 
figure above), an inhabitant of India, Fenang, Burmah, Cochin China, Java, and the Philippine Islands; T. Theobaldi , 
from Tenasserim; T. australis , from Australia and New Guinea; T.mauritianus, with white wings, from tropical Africa, 
Madagascar, and the Mascarene Islands ; T. saccolaimus , from India and the larger Eastern islands ; T.ajfinis, from Labuan ; 
nnd T . Pch, from tropical Africa. The Valve- tailed Bat ( Dichdurus albus), a native of Brazil, is remarkable for its whitish 
colour, and especially for the presence of a curious horny case, composed of two parts, which covers the extremity of the 
tail, and is attached to the upper surface of the interfemoral membrane, 
t Rhinopoma mm'ophylluin. 
SKULL OF ItmXOPOME. 
{After Dobson.) 
HEAD OF MALE AND FEMALE BLACK-BEARDED DAT. 
I After Dobson.) 
