330 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
ankles (see figure) ; the first phalanx of the middle finger is very short. The interfemoral membrane 
is ample, and stretched by two very long heel-spurs ; it is perforated before the middle for the passage 
of the tail, about one-third of which projects on the upper surface of the membrane. 
The length of the head and body in this species is about two inches and two-thirds, and that of the 
tail from one inch to one inch and one-sixth, according to the sex, being longer in the male. The fur of 
the upper side is of a rich umber-brown, and that of the lower surface brownish-grey, the difference being 
caused by the brown tips of the hairs above, which are wanting on those of the under side. The hairs 
on the inner margin of the ear are shiny brown. The membranes are dark-brown. This species is an 
inhabitant of South America and of the West Indies, but it does not seem to be very abundant. 
Nothing has been recorded as to its habits, but it is probably a strictly nocturnal Bat. 
Blainville’s Bat is the type of a small group of Phyllostomidce , which, as already indicated, form 
a sort of transition towards the more normal Emballonuridce , the line of relationship probably passing 
through the Noctiliones. This group ( Mormopes , Peters ; Lobostomince , Dobson) is characterised by its 
terminal nostrils, and the cutaneous folds or ridges on the chin. 
THE OWL-FACED BAT* 
This is another species of the Mormops group, but very much less remarkable in its characters. 
It has pointed ears, with an elongated tragus. The hinder nasal appendage, which is so large in 
Blainville’s Bat, here forms merely a sort of transverse pad across the middle of the muzzle, and the 
nostrils are pierced in the middle of the upper part of a naked piece, which rises 
directly from the upper lip. The lower lip is warty, but the warty portion 
gradually passes into the other part of the lip, and below it there is a thin fold of 
skin. The skull is considerably longer than high ; and while the teeth are 
present in the same number as in Mormops , the second premolar in the lower 
jaw is small, and removed inwards from the line of the series of teeth. 
The Owl-faced Bat is a small species, the head and body measuring only two 
head of owl-faced inches. The tail is an inch long, and about a fifth of it projects from the upper 
(From Go&i&s' 1 Jamaica”) sur ^ ace of the interfemoral membrane, which is expanded by a pair of very long 
spurs. The expanse of wing is nearly twelve inches, which is very great for so 
small a Bat. The body is covered with a short, soft fur, of a brownish-grey colour above, and pale- 
grey beneath ; the membranes are black. 
The Owl -faced Bat was originally obtained from Cuba, but it has since been captured in St. 
Domingo and Jamaica, and may probably occur elsewhere in the West Indies, or on the continental 
part of Central America. Mr. Gosse, when in Jamaica, captured a specimen which flew in at an 
open window, but did not allow itself to be taken until after a very tedious pursuit, in which it mani- 
fested great agility on the wing. He says that “ in captivity it uttered once or twice, very slightly, 
the peculiar short sound resembling the clicking of some delicate piece of machinery, which every one 
who is familiar with living Bats will remember as common to most of these animals. It was very 
active, leaping up to flight from the table, and expanding the wings in a moment, though confined 
within a candle-shade. It bit fiercely at the hand that held it, but could not draw blood from the 
fingers. It usually canned the apical half of the interfemoral bent upward at the point where it ceases 
to embrace the tail, so that the tail seems to extend beyond the membrane. It is thus held by the 
(Calcanea, the tips of which, curving downward, carry down again the tip of the membrane, puckered 
into minute plicse.” 
Another species of this genus, Chilonycteris Parndlii, inhabits Cuba and J amaica, and two others, 
C. per sonata and C. rubiginosa , occur in Brazil, and extend thence to Central America. 
Another allied form is Davy’s Bat ( Pteronotus Davyii), which is remarkable for having the 
wings attached along the course of the spine, as in the Pteropid genera Cephalotes and Notopteris 
v(see pp. 277, 278). 
# Ghilonycterw MarJeayii. 
