Mr. R. F. Tomes on new species of Bats. 443 



which entitled it to further consideration, and to still further di- 

 stinction, proposed to elevate it to the rank of a distinct genus, and 

 employed the rejected name given to it by Boddaert by which to de- 

 signate the new genus. 



In the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' vol. x.. Dr. 

 Gray made it the type of his genus Kerivoula, and associated with it 

 several other species which he considered as representatives also of 

 the new genus. Without going at length into the details of the 

 examination which have led me to make use of the generic name 

 above noticed, I may mention, that throughout the present commu- 

 nication, whenever 1 have occasion to speak of the species, it will be 

 under the name of Kerivoula picta. But whilst I adopt this name 

 for the species, I reject most of the associates provided for it. 



The great beauty of the Kerivoula picta consists in its bright rust- 

 coloured fur, and in its pied orange-and-black membranes. But 

 there is another species which in respect of colour greatly resembles 

 it, indeed far surpasses it. It is a native of China, and the speci- 

 men from which the illustration accompanying the present paper 

 was taken, was presented to the British Museum by Mr. Fortune, 

 its precise locality being Shanghai. 



At the time the illustration was executed, I supposed, from the 

 extraordinary richness of its colour, that it could not be a known or 

 described species, and I had proposed to give it the name of Vesp. 

 rufo-niger. A careful examination, however, of specimens of Vesp. 

 formosa in the British and East India Company's Museums has 

 shown me that it differs from that species chiefly in the intensity of 

 the colour of the fur and membranes. 



The examination of these examples led further to the inspection 

 of the Vesp. rufo-pictus ofWaterhouse, and again to some other 

 species possessed of similar forms, but not gifted with the beauty of 

 colour observed in those mentioned above. 



It will be the purpose of this communication to point out these 

 species, and to endeavour to show that none are referable to the 

 genus Kerivoula (supposing it to be typified by the Kerivoula picta), 

 in which some of them have been placed by Dr. Gray. 



In general form the examples of this group — scarcely of sub- 

 generic importance — bear some resemblance to the common Vesp. 

 murinus of Europe. They all have a somewhat thick though not 

 broad muzzle, and a crown but slightly raised above the level of the 

 face ; nostrils which are removed from each other by only a moderate 

 interval, and that interval not emarginate in the specimens preserved 

 in spirit, although very slightly so in those which are dried. The 

 ears are in all the species more or less ovoid, and deeply and evenly 

 hollowed or scooped out about the middle of the outer margin, as 

 in the Vesp. emarginatus of Europe. The tragus is rather long, 

 nearly straight, and diminishes evenly to an acute point. The mem- 

 branes of the wings extend to the base of the toes, and the latter 

 are much longer than the remaining part of the foot ; and as if for 

 the sake of uniformity, the terminal phalange of the thumb is much 

 longer than the basal one*. 



* The great length of the toes in relation to the length of the foot depends 



