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Show 1904.] MALAGASY BAT MYZOPODA AUR1TA. 3 dier in 1878*, and further descriptions of the type specimen were given by Dr. Dobson f , but in neither case was there any account of the skull or skeleton, nor were any figures published to illustrate its many peculiarities. It is therefore thought that some figures of the animal, with an account of its osteological characters, will be of service to students of the Chiroptera. Of the external characters little further notice is necessary beyond drawing attention to the figures given (PI. I.) of the ear (fig. 1) and of the peculiar mushroom-shaped process (fig. 1 a) at its outer base, an organ unknown in other Bats. I would, however, express my opinion that the " irregularly square lobe in the usual position of the tragus or slightly in front of it, continuous above with the keel of the ear-conch " (Dobson), does actually represent the tragus of other Bats, coalesced in this case with the inner base of the ear, an arrangement unique within the Order. The penis is short, slender, pointed, and without a bone; the glans very slender, styliform, about 2 mm. in length, the opening of the urethra at its base above ; the prepuce wrinkled and quite naked externally, a very unusual character. The palate has a single undivided ridge, convex forwards, running across between the anterior premolars, and six pairs of divided ridges between the larger cheek-teeth (see PI. I. fig. 8). The skull is short, broad, smooth, and rounded, in a superficial view not unlike that of a Chilonycteris, though shorter-muzzled. The brain-case is proportionally large, smooth, spherical, unridged, not abnormally raised above the face-line. Nasal notch shallow, quite unlike the deep notch characteristic of the Vespertilionidte; but, unfortunately, the specimen is too old to show the nasal and other sutures, so that the exact disposition of the bones cannot be described. Premaxillse united between and in front of the rather irregular palatine foramina, but not bearing teeth in the middle line ; their structure and that of the anterior nares very similar to what is found in JSfatalus. Posterior nares low from above downwards, much obstructed by the large rounded keel of the vomer, which is ankylosed to the palatine in the middle line ; opening of nares narrowly U-shaped, the front edge of the opening level with the front of m.3 Pterygoids narrow, divergent, ending in long, curved, hamular processes. Two large circular basi-sphenoid pits present, one on each side between the antero-internal corner of the bulla and the back of the pterygoids ; their dividing septum T-shaped in section, its buccal surface broad, smooth, and in level continuation with the mesopterygoid fossa and the basioccipital, but narrowed upwards, where the floors of the two pits approach each other closely. Bullae and cochleae of medium dimensions. Basioccipital smooth and broad, quite filling up the space between the bullae. * Bull. Soc. Philom. 1878, p. 220. f P. Z. S. 1878, p. 371. Report on accessions to Chiroptera during 1878-1880, p. 23; British Association Reports, 1880. 1* |