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Show 1881.] ON THE ANATOMY OF THE EPOMOPHORI. 685 adult (both females), of the same species. One, received from Mr. Carl Hagenbeck, of Hamburg, ou the 25th of March 1881, died on the 4th of the following month; the other, received from Mr. W . Cross, of Liverpool, on the 15th of July 1880, lived until the 31st of March 1881. Both these examples are from South America. One of them is rather darker, and the pubescence on the cephalothorax is of a more coppery reddish hue ; but in other respects it agrees with the example described, though neither of them is quite so large. EXPLANATION OF PLATE LX. Fig. 1. 2 Homceomma stradlingi (from Dr. Stradling's specimen). Natural size. 2. The same. Profile of cephalothorax and falces, a little enlarged. 3. The same. Eyes from above and behind. 4. The same. Eyes from in front, looked at on a level with the Spider. 5. The same. <? from Brazil, right palpus, of natural size. 6. The same. Portion of right palpus enlarged, from above and behind, on the outer side. 7. The same. Portion of right palpus, from underneath. 4. On the Structure of the Pharynx, Larynx, and Hyoid Bones in the Epomophori; with Remarks on its Relation to the Habits of these Animals. By G. E. DOBSON, M.A., M.B., &c. [Eeceived May 17, 1881.] In all species of Chiroptera, of which the structure of the pharynx and larynx has hitherto been described, and in all those examined up to the present by the writer, the form of these parts has been found remarkably simple, differing but slightly from that of the Insectivora, all agreeing in possessing a short pharynx, with the small circular or narrow slit-like aperture of the larynx generally guarded by a short acutely-pointed epiglottis, which, in some genera (Harpyia, Vampyrus, e. g.), is almost obsolete, opening close behind the fauces, near to which also the posterior nares enter-and in the small size of the laryngeal cavity and feeble development of the vocal cords, the hyoid bone also being slender and connected by a chain of simple cylindrical bones with the cranium. In the Epomophori, however, we find in the structure of all these parts a remarkable departure from the general type : the pharynx is long and very capacious, the aperture of the larynx far removed from the fauces ; and opposite to it a canal leading from the narial chambers and extending along the back of the pharynx opens; the laryngeal cavity is spacious, and its walls are ossified; and the vocal cords are well developed; the hyoid bone is quite unconnected, except by muscle, with the cranium ; the ceratohyals and epihyals are cartilaginous and greatly expanded, entering into the formation of the walls of the pharynx, and, in the males of two species at least, |
