eals the nasal orifices, the immense joined ears with large
bifid tragus, and the great extent of the interfemoral membrane, in
the base of which the short tail is concealed. _M. gigas_ (fig. 9),
from central Queensland, is the largest species of the genus, and of
the suborder. _M. lyra_, common in India (fore-arm 2.7 in.), has been
caught in the act of sucking the blood, while flying, from a small bat
which it afterwards devoured. The range of the genus includes Africa,
the Indo-Malay countries and Australasia. _Nycteris_, which is common
to Africa and the Malay Peninsula and Islands, has ossified
premaxillae and upper incisors (_i._ 2/3, _p._ 1/2), and a long tail;
but lacks a nose-leaf. As in _Megaderma_, the frontal bones are deeply
hollowed and expanded laterally, the muzzle presents a similar
cylindrical form, and the lower jaw also projects; but, instead of a
nose-leaf, the face is marked by a deep longitudinal sharp-edged
groove extending from the nostrils to the band connecting the base of
the large ears; the sides of this depression being margined as far
back as the eyes by small horizontal cutaneous appendages. With the
exception of _N. javanica_, the species are limited to Africa.

[Illustration: FIG. 9.--The False Vampire (_Megaderma gigas_). From
Dobson.]

Vampires.

According to the classification followed by Dr G.E. Dobson, the
extensive family of New World bats known as _Phyllostomatidae_ was
widely sundered from the two preceding groups; but in Prof. Max
Weber's system they are placed next one another--an arrangement which
has the great advantage of bringing together all the bats furnished
with nose-leaves. It is indeed probable that the vampires, as the
members of the present family may be collectively termed, are the New
World representatives of the Old World _Rhinolophidae_ and
_Nycteridae_.

The _Phyllostomatidae_ are characterized by the presence of a
nose-leaf, or of lappets on the chin, but the nostrils are not
directed upwards. The ethmoturbinal bones of the nasal cavity form
simple plates (much as in the two preceding families). The premaxillae
are always well developed, with their palatal portions forming a
suture and denning the boundaries of distinct palatine foramina (in
place of being rudimentary, as in _Nycteridae_ and _Rhinolophidae_).
The large ears have a tragus. The middle finger has three phalanges,