back: its
distribution accords with that of _Pteropus_, except that it includes
Africa and does not reach farther east than New Ireland. _R.
aegyptiacus_ inhabits the chambers of the Great Pyramid and other
deserted buildings in Egypt, and is probably the species figured in
Egyptian frescoes. _Boneia_, with two species, from Celebes, differs
in having only two upper incisors. _Harpyionycteris_ and
_Scotonycteris_, respectively from the Philippines and West Africa,
are represented by a single species each; but of _Cynopterus_, which
is mainly confined to the Indo-Malay countries, there are some
half-score different kinds. The dentition is _i._ 2/[2 or 1], _c._
1/1, _p._ 3/3, _m._ 3/3, the muzzle is shorter than in _Roussettus_,
with the upper lip grooved in front as in _Pteropus_, while the tail
and fur resemble those of the former genus. These bats are extremely
voracious, a specimen of the Indian _C. marginatus_ having eaten a
banana twice its own weight in three hours. Among several Austro-Malay
genera, such as _Ptenochirus_ and _Balionycteris_, the tube-nosed bats
of the genus _Gelasinus_ (or _Harpyia_) are remarkable for the
conformation of the nostrils (fig. 5). _Cephalotes_, with one species,
ranging from Celebes to the Solomon group, has the dentition _i._ 1/1,
_c._ 1/1, _p._ 2/3, _m._ 2/3, premaxillae not united in front,
nostrils simple, muzzle short, index finger without a claw, tail
short. As in _Gelasinus_, the wing-membrane arises from the middle
line of the back, to which it is attached by a longitudinal thin
process of skin; the wings are naked, but the back covered with hair.
_Leipenyx_ is an allied West African genus with one species.

[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Head of Papuan Tube-Nosed Bat (_Gelasinus
major_). From G.E. Dobson.]

The foregoing belong to the typical subfamily _Pteropodinae_, while
the remainder represent a second group, _Carponycterinae_ (or
_Macroglossinae_), characterized by having the facial part of the
skull produced, the molar teeth narrow, and scarcely raised above the
gum, and the tongue exceedingly long, attenuated in the anterior
third, and armed with long recurved papillae near the tip. The single
representative of the first genus, _Notopteris macdonaldi_, inhabiting
Fiji, New Guinea and the New Hebrides, is distinguished from other
bats of this family by the length of its tail, which is nearly as long
a