294 
BATS. 
North-East Africa, through India, to Burma. It has 28 teeth, of which 4 on each 
side belong to the incisor, and \ to the cheek series. Its most distinctive feature is, 
however, its very long and slender free tail, which projects far beyond the margin 
of the very short membrane between the legs, and thereby distinguishes it at a 
glance from all other bats. It is further quite peculiar in that the second or index 
finger of the wing has two joints. Another feature, of less import, although it 
has given rise to the scientific name of the genus, is the presence of a fleshy 
prominence on the muzzle, just over the nose; this prominence having been 
incorrectly regarded as a rudimentary nose-leaf. In specimens taken in India 
during the cold season there is an enormous accumulation of fat around the tail 
and thighs, which is sometimes so large as to exceed the weight of the rest of the 
body; the accumulation being similar to that already noticed as occurring in the 
naked-bellied tomb-bat and doubtless serving the same purpose. According to Mr. 
Blanford, “ this species is common in North-Western India, and hides during the 
day in caves, clefts in rocks, old ruins, and similar places. In Cutch it takes up its 
abode in wells. Jerdon relates that in Madras, in 1848, many were captured in a 
house for three successive nights, having probably been blown by strong westerly 
winds from the rocky hills to the westward. The species is not of common 
occurrence in Madras. According to Blyth, this species formerly abounded in the 
Taj at Agra (it may still be found there), and Cantor found numbers inhabiting the 
subterranean Hindu place of worship within the fort at Allahabad.” 
The Mastiff-Bats. 
Genus Molossus. 
With the mastiff-bats, which take their name from a supposed resemblance of 
their broad wide-mouthed muzzles to the head of a mastiff, we come to the first 
representatives of the second subfamily of this division, the members of which are 
characterised by the thickness of their tails, which (with 
a single exception) are prolonged for a considerable 
distance beyond the hinder margin of the membrane 
between the hind legs. The legs are short and strong, and 
the feet of great relative width; while the thumbs of the 
wings have curious callosities at their bases; and the 
upper incisor teeth are of large size, and limited to a single 
pair. As in all these bats, the feet are completely free 
from the wing - membranes, which can be comfortably 
folded up and stowed away between the fore-arms and the 
HEAD OF MASTIFF-BAT (From . ... . 
Dobson, Proc . Zool . Soc ., 1878.) le g 8 > and the membrane between the legs can be retracted 
to a greater or less extent by being moved backwards 
and forwards along the tail. In the strength of their limbs, in the development 
of the corn-like callosities at the bases of their thumbs, as well as in their large 
and flat feet, and the freedom of their feet from the wing-membranes, the mastiff- 
bats and their allies are more adapted for crawling on the ground than any other 
members of this group of animals. And the result of observations on living 
