CONCLUDING REMARKS ON BATS 
341 
Family VI.— Phyllostomip-w. 
Sub-family 1.— Lobostominse.— Nostrils iu front of muzzle ; 
cbin with erect cutaneous ridges. Genera. — Cliilonyc- 
teris, Pteronctus, Me rmopa. 
Sub-family 2 — PbyllostomiuEe.— Nostrils on upper surface 
of muzzle; cbin with warts. Group l.—Vampyri . — 
Molars with W -shaped cusps ; four upper incisors ; 
muzzle long; tongue moderate. Genera, — Macrotus, 
Lonchorhina, Maerophyllum, Vampyrus, Scliizostoma, 
Lophostoma, Trachyops, Pliyllostonia, Carollia, Rliino- 
phylla. Group 2. — Glosao phiiya '. — Like the Vampyri, 
but tongue very long, and lower lip div ided by a deep 
groove. Genera. — Glossojhaga, Monopkyllus, isckno- 
glossa, Phyllonycteris, Lonchoglossu, Glossonyetens. 
Group 3. — Stenodermata . — Muzzle short; molars with 
a cutting outer edge ; four upper incisors. Genera. — 
Stenoderma, Artibeus, Phyllops, Vampyrops, Pygo- 
derma, Ametrida, Chiroderma, Sturnixa, Brachyphylla, 
Centurio. Group. 4. — Lesmodontes . — No true molars ; 
two upper incisors. Genera. — Desmodus, Diphylla, 
We have already remarked that of these families the Vespertilionidye may be regarded as the 
types of the whole order ; they realise all the notions that we form in our minds when we speak of “ a 
Bat/’ and this with the greatest simplicity, or with the smallest amount of complication from subordi- 
nate characters. Next to them in this respect come some of the Emballonuridse. The other families 
group themselves round these, or the whole of the other Microchiroptera may be said to surround 
the Vespertilionidse. Mr. Dobson, accepting the notion of the origin of organic forms by a process 
of evolution, assumes an unknown group of ancestral forms ( Palieochiroptera ) from which in the 
first place the Vespertilionidse and Emballonuridie diverge, forming the roots of his two “alliances.” 
From the Emballonuridie proceed the Pliyllostoinidse, and from the Vespertilionidse the ISycteridse 
and Bhinolophidse. From this point of view these Bats may be regarded as allied to the Insectivora 
through some unknown common ancestors ; but what these may have been, or by what stages the 
Bat-type originated from the ordinary quadruped, it is very difficult to imagine. The facts of geo- 
graphical distribution go far, however, to confirm the view that the V espertilionida? and Emballo- 
nuridse are the central and oldest types of Bats ; their distribution is world-wide, and even some 
nearly allied forms are found in very distant parts of the world. The other families are more re- 
stricted in their range, the Nycteridse and Pdiinolopliidse being confined to the Eastern, and the 
Phyllostomidse to the Western hemisphere, and chiefly to the warmer zones, whereas the Vesperti- 
lionidse extend much further to the north. 
The Pteropuke, or Frugivorous Bats, however, cannot well be brought into this scheme of 
descent. They stand completely isolated from the rest of the order, and their peculiar distribution 
would almost seem to indicate that their origin and relationships were distinct from those of the other 
Bats. Their range, which sweeps round the shores of the Indian Ocean from the Cape of Good Hope 
to Australia, and extends, perhaps somewhat exceptionally, into the islands of the Pacific, although it 
cannot be said to coincide with that of the Lemuroids, being so much wider, at least includes the whole 
of the localities in which the latter are met with ; and if the Lemuroids are really, as seems probable, 
segregated descendants of a great fauna which inhabited the supposed sunken continent of “ Lemuria,” 
the same origin may fairly be ascribed to the Pteropidse, and their wider distribution may be accounted 
for by their much greater power of locomotion. In connection with this it is interesting to note the 
strong Lemurian resemblances presented by many of the Pteropidae ; and further, the sort of common 
point of junction between the Lemuroids, the Pteropids, and the Insectivora, furnished by that cuiious 
animal the Galeopithecus , or Flying Lemur, which is also still an inhabitant of a region haunted by 
Lemuroids and Pteropine Bats. The Pteropids thus seem to stand quite apart from the other Bats. 
From a genealogical point of view, which indeed is that which we always take of the relationships of 
animals, whether we believe in the doctrine of descent or not, we may ask whether the two sub-orders 
of Bats have not been realised in their present form through two quite different series of modifications. 
The appeal to fossil evidence, which in some cases leads to satisfactory results, gives us no clue to 
the origin of the different groups of Bats. Of the Pteropids no fossil remains are known. Of the other 
families the most ancient remains are, as might be expected, those of the V espertilionida?, several species of 
which have been found in Miocene beds at Mayence and in the south of France, and even in the Eocene 
gypsum deposits of the Paris basin. Other bones identical with those of species now living in the 
same localities have been detected in bone-caves in various parts of Europe. Bones of a Rhinolophus 
have occurred in the cavern of “ Kent’s Hole,” near Torquay ; and the celebrated bone-caves of Brazil 
have furnished numerous remains of Bats, all of which, however, are referable to the peculiarly South 
American family Phyllostomidas. Thus, so far as we are acquainted with them, the fossil remains of 
Bats, even the most ancient, indicate only forms more or less nearly related to those still existing in 
the same localities, and furnish us with no means even of speculating upon the course of events by 
which, so to speak, the type of the Chiroptera was evolved. W« 8. Dallas. 
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