22 
ORDER CHIROPTERA, 
GENUS NOCTILIO. 
branes are ample ; the interfemoral extends considerably beyond the 
feet, and the tail descends about a fourth of it. The ear is directed for- 
wards ; it is very acute, transparent, and more than an inch long. The 
head above is very flat. The muzzle is naked, very acute, and bent up- 
wards, so that the animal has been compared to a pug-dog ; the lip is 
divided by the cleft which separates the nostrils, and the mouth is fes- 
tooned in a very peculiar manner. There is a white stripe along the 
dorsal ridge in some specimens. 
2. NOCTILIO IIUFIP£S._RED.CLAWED HARE-LIPPED BAT. 
Syn. et Icon. Nocituo rbfipes. — D’Orb. Voy. — Mammiferes, pi. 9. 
SPECIFIC CHAEACTERS. 
The Hair uniform reddish-yellow. The Membranes, Ears, and 
Feet, grey. The Claws reddish. The Auricular Operculum deeply 
notched. 
Inhabits South America. 
This species is known to us only through the figure of M. D’Orbigny' 
above quoted. 
imaginary species. 
1. Noctilio albiventer, (Spix, Sim. et Vesp. Bras. pi. 35, fig. 2 and 
3, ) is the young of N. Leporinus according to Temminck. 
2, N. noRSATUs of GeoiFroy is a variety of sex or age of the same 
species. 
DOUBTFUL GENERA AND SPECIES. 
1. Aello — Dr Leach (Linn. Trans. XIII. p. 71) has described a Bat 
under the name of Aiillo Cuvieri, now in the Museum of the University 
College, London. The head is nearly conical ; the forehead flat ; the 
ears large and separate, apparently truncated at the extremity ; the tail 
with a membraneous band produced to the point of a large interlemoral 
membrane. Its colour is rusty brown ; its alar membranes dark brown ; 
the dimensions are not indicated, and its country is unknown. The den- 
. . 2|1 + C-|-4 M 12 oo 
|2+4‘6 M=r8=^- 
2. Cel.®no. — This is another of Dr Leach’s genera, reposing on a 
single specimen, which he styled Celamo Brooksiana, (Linn. Trans. 
Xlll. 70.) According to Mr John Edward Gray, the specimen in the 
Museum of the University College, London, is merely a Noctilio, in which 
the bones of the tail had been withdrawn from the skin. 
3. Pteronotus. — Mr Gray (Mag. Zool. and Bot. II. 500) proposes a 
new genus to contain a Bat, named by him P. Davyi, from Trinidad. 
His account is as follows : Ears lateral, tragus elongate lobed ; chin with 
a reflexed cartilaginous edge to the lower lip, and an erect membraneous 
ridge across its lower part ; wings only affixed by a narrow line to the 
middle of the back, which is covered with fur beneath them ; hind-feet 
long, the ankle rather produced and exposed ; the lower angle of the wing 
lies folded over it. Its dentition is not stated. Mouse-coloured, wings 
baldish; expanse of wing twelve inches. From a specimen in the Mu- 
seum Fort Ifit, Chatham. 
4. Myopteris. — M. GeofTroy (Mem. de rinst. d’Egypte, 11. p. 113) 
describes a Bat under the name of Myopteris Daubentonii. The nose is 
simple, the ears broad, separate, and lateral, with an internal operculum j 
the tail long, one half enveloped in the interfemoral membrane; the 
muzzle short and thick. The upper parts of the head and body are 
brown, beneath it is lighter. The dentition 
This is the Hat volant of Daubenton, (Mem. de I’Acad. de Paris, 1759.) 
TRIBE II.— DIPHALANGIA ISTIOPHORA. 
Syn. IsTioPHORi, (in part.) — Spix, Sim. et Vespert. Bras. 
Phyllostomina. — Gray, in Mag. Zool. et Bot. II. 4S6 Less. Mam. 
CHARACTERS OF THE TRIBE. 
The Index with two ossified phalanges, the middle finger with three. 
The Nose with one or two leafy appendages. 
We have now arrived at that group of Bats where the cutaneous system, 
ample in them all, acquires its maximum development. This is aided by 
the two phalanges of the index finger, and the three of the middle one ; 
the phalanges being the frame-work of the membranes ; and is manifested 
by the nasal appendages, consisting of the horse-shoe, (Jer-d-chevat,) a 
semi-circular cutaneous excrescence immediately helow, and often involv- 
ing the nostrils, and the 7iose-leaf, usually rising up at right angles to the 
horse-shoe, and exhibiting a resemblance to the leaves of some vegetables. 
A few remarks, then, on the more prominent peculiarities of this deve- 
lopment, and the uses it subserves, are more especially required. In 
many of the genera the tegumentary folds, more especially the alar and 
interfemoral, are so superabundant, as well as those of the ears and nose, 
that the bodies themselves of these animals can scarcely be perceived : 
their aspect is thus rendered more shadowy, their physiognomy wilder, 
and, finally, their forms so vague and indistinct, as greatly to increase the 
horror which tlieit' alleged devastations in.spire. 
In the Anistiophora division just described, we had occasion to allude 
to the extraordinary development manifesting itself in the external ears, 
which, in some species, are approximated and festooned over the eves ; but 
in some of those we have yet to review the external auricle nearly equals 
in dimensions the whole body. The external ear, in fact, instead of being 
single, as in all other animals, may be said to be double in many of the Bats; 
for, in adrlition to the external concha, which they have in common with 
other terrestrial Mammalia, they have a second and internal one, which 
more directly surrounds the auditory foramen. This second auricle is 
derived from the tragus, or rather, according to M. Geoftroy’s well known 
views, is the tragus itself, though we are led to suppose it a distinct 
part, on account of its great volume, in proportion to that of the ear, and 
on account of this latter being so folded and rolled upon itself. A 
precisely corresponding change takes place at the nostrils, which are fur- 
nished with borders in the I'oim of crests and leaves supplied by duplica- 
turcs of the skin ; these membranes are somewhat tubular in shape, and 
the bottom of the funnel constitutes the entrance of the nasal apertures. 
This arrangement then prevails in the organ of smell as of hearing ; both 
being provided with conch®, or external trumpets. 
The consequence of this is not less apparent than it is striking. 
Most of the senses of tliese Bats are thereby rendered exquisitely acute. 
From the great expanse of their alar and interfemoral membranes, they 
acquire, by means of the aerial vibrations, iiiformution of many minute 
bodies, of which other animals are perfectly unconscious. Hence the 
observations of Spallanzani led him to infer, that most frequently they 
perceive the indications of touch without requiting immediate contact ; 
and hence, according to the judicious remark of Cuvier upon these expe- 
riments, all that they require to be advertised of the immediate presence 
of corporeal objects, is to beat, or rather feel, the air which is interposed 
between them and these objects, judging by the manner in which it acts 
upon their membranes. Spallanzani slates this may be considered as the 
possession of a sixth sense. That the ample dermal apparatus at the 
ears and nostrils produces corresponding efl’ects on the senses of hearing 
and smelling, is too evident to be dwelt upon, — a remark the more valu- 
able when associated with an observation ot Dr Horsfield formerly noticed 
with regard to the Dysopes torquatus, (p. 20,) that the development of 
the internal ear, when compared to that of Man, is enormous. All this 
acuteness of apprehension is necessary for tlie exercise of their predatory 
propensities against nocturnal insects, during the twilight, and even 
midnight darkness. And, lest the sensibility should overwhelm them un- 
der the scorching influence of a tropical sun, it is not less interesting to 
observe, that these same tubes and concii® are, by a slight mnseiil.iv 
agency, at tlie will of the animal, converted into so many plugs and valves, 
whereby all smells and sounds are shut out as effectually as is the light 
by the closed eye-lids. The “ operculum,” says M. Geoffroy, "is placed 
at the margin of the meatus auditorius, in such a way as at will to be- 
, P ’’ mach toberegr^ted that tlie elegant Work of SI. D Orbigny, published under the auspices of the French Government, proceeds at a rate of intolerable slowness ; 
the. descriptions of many Plates, which have long been in our possession, are stiU withheld— Should not a public work of that kind be issued at a lower price, and the separ- 
able^portions m distiuct senes ? r > * 
