taphozous

[Gr. taphos =a tomb, and zōō =to live. So named by Geoffroy because he discov ered the type species, Taphozous perforatus, in the chambers of the Pyramids. [TOMB-BAT.] The other species share its fondne for dark places.] Zool .: A genus of Bats, belonging to the group Emballonurse of the family Emballonuridæ, from the Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australian regions, with ten species ranging into Egypt and Palestine. Most of these bats have a peculiar glandular sac between the angles of the lower jaw; it is always more developed in males than in females, which, in some species, do not po e any trace of it, though in the males of the same species it may be quite distinct. In Taphozous melanopogon , from India and the East Indies, it is absent from both sexes. In the seven species forming the sub-genus Taphozous, a small band of integument pa es from the inferior surface of the fore-arm, and forms, with the wing-membrane, a small pouch; in the other three species (forming the sub-genus Taphonycteris) this pouch is absent.