474 Zoological Society : — 



a more comparative nature, and are therefore more serviceable in the 

 discrimination of allied species. 



With regard to the synonymy of the several groups, it is as com- 

 plete as I have been able to make it, but is I believe very imper- 

 fect. In all instances care has been taken to exclude such names 

 and references as I could not either personally test by the examina- 

 tion of unquestionable species, or by the comparison of figures and 

 descriptions agreeing with such accuracy as to leave no reasonable 

 doubt as to their identity. 



This explanation appeared necessary previous to bringing before 

 the Society successive papers in which but very few of the species 

 are new, and many old and well-known ones are described at some 

 length. 



The name of Kerivoula was first given by Boddaert * to a species 

 of Bat which had before been described by Pallas *f* by the name of 

 Vespertilio pictus — a name singularly appropriate for an animal with 

 the bright red fur and membranes, and the peculiar distribution of 

 the colour on the latter, which characterizes the species. 



Boddaert' s specific name having given way to that of Pallas, has 

 been taken up by Dr. Gray J, and used in a generic sense, he 

 having perceived that the species differed considerably from most 

 other representatives of the genus Vespertilio. But Dr. Gray, 

 placing great reliance on the importance of a single character, has 

 arranged with it some species, the affinity of which the subsequent 

 examination of a greater number of species has not corroborated. 

 In these investigations others have been discovered which bear very 

 close generic resemblance to the original one, V. pictus, whilst 

 some of those which have been associated with it prove, on the 

 contrary, to be by no means closely affined. 



I have in a previous communication removed one of these species 

 — V. formosus — from the present genus, and placed it in the group 

 with the members of which its characters most closely agree. After 

 describing the species which I consider referable to the genus Keri- 

 voula, I shall enumerate such others as have been called by that 

 name, but which I consider as appertaining to other groups. 



Fam. Vespertilionidje. 



Genus Kerivoula, Gray. 



Vespertilio, Pallas, Geoffroy, Desmarest, Fischer, Schreber, 

 Wagner, Temminck. 



The top of the head is very much elevated, but not so much so 

 as in Furipterus, Natalus, and Miniopteris. The face is depressed ; 

 and the muzzle is of moderate length, and somewhat pointed. The 

 nostrils, which are near together, open sublaterally, and have an 

 emarginate space between them. The lower lip has a tolerably well 



* Elenchus Animalium, vol. i. sist. Quadrup. p. 70, Mo. 10, 1785. 



t Spicilegia Zoologica, iii. p. 7, 1774. 



X Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1842, p. 258. 



