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Show 702 MR. G. E. DOBSON ON THE MOLOSSI. [Nov. 7, each of which, without regard to priority, has met with favour from different zoologists, scarcely any two appearing to agree in adopting the same term ; so that the" same species is described not infrequently under three or four different generic titles in the works of almost contemporaneous observers. This has, no doubt, been due in a great measure to the original very imperfect definitions of these genera, and also to the want of any trustworthy arrangement of the large number of new species subsequently described. The first satisfactory attempt to arrange the species scientifically in a systematic form, and to determine their correct synonymy, was made by Prof. Peters, who published, in 1865, in a footnote to his paper on the Brazilian species of Bats described by Spix*, a short list of the genera, subgenera, and typical species of this group, with descriptions of a few new species, and subsequently, in the same journal, gave the results of his examination of the typical specimens from which Geoffroy's and Wagner's original descriptions were taken. Finding, however, that not half the species of Molossi now known are included in Prof. Peters's list, in which also no descriptions are given, and that much remained to be done before any thing approaching a correct list of the species and their synonymy could be made out, I was induced to give the subject m y special attention; and the following monograph of the species is the result of my examination of a large number of specimens (including most of the types) preserved in the British Museum, in the museums at Leyden, Berlin, and Paris, and in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, as well as in several smaller collections. The Molossi may be defined as Bats of the family Emballonuridae with short legs and well developed fibulae, with broad strong feet (whereof the first toe or the first and fifth are much thicker than the others) furnished with long, curved, prehensile hairs; with a thick fleshy tail produced far beyond the posterior margin of the interfemoral membrane ; with flat broad heads, and obtuse, obliquely truncated muzzles terminated by the projecting margins of the nostrils ; with generally large and broad, often united ears, and a short, sometimes minute, tragus ; with a single pair of well developed upper incisors converging inwards and forwards. In all the species the upper lip is very thick, and often deeply furrowed by vertical wrinkles, evidence of its great expansibility. The wings are very narrow, and the middle finger very long, its metacarpal bone in most species slightly exceeding the total length of the last finger. The first phalanx of the middle finger is short, less than half the length of the metacarpal bone, on the dorsal surface of which it is folded forwards in repose. The interfemoral membrane sheathes the base of the tail, and is movable at the will of the animal backwards or forwards upon it, thus increasing or diminishing its surface. The great length and narrowness of the wings indicate rapid flight; and the power possessed by these Bats of varying the extent of surface of the interfemoral membrane must confer upon them * Monatsb. Akad. Berlin, 1865, p. 573. |
