Page:Natural History (1848).djvu/50

40 inhabiting the Indian Archipelago; their flesh is eaten, and is by some esteemed, and compared to that of Hare or Partridge in flavour.

The largest, as well as the most common in our collections and museums, is the species named the Black-bellied Roussette (Pteropus edulis, .), specimens of which have been seen which measured five feet and a half in spread of wing. ‘The fur of this animal, which is crisp and coarse, is of a blackish hue, deeper on the under parts. In the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, it associates in flocks, which by night commit great depredations on the fruit, and by day are seen hanging in groups from the branches of the trees. Occasionally they emit a loud harsh cry, like that of a goose. The flesh has a musky odour, but is esteemed by the natives; who, to procure it, take great numbers with a bag at the end of a pole. The great majority of the numerous species of the Cheiropterous order belong to this Family, the food of which consists, for the most part, of insects. ‘The true molars, of which there are six in each jaw, are set with conical points: the forefinger has no nail, and no more than two phalanges: the interfemoral membrane is commonly large, the tail long, and, either wholly or in part, enveloped in the membrane. Many of the species have cheek-pouches; and most of them utter a