388 Zoological Society : — 



value for breeding and crossing ; the least possible trace of the breed 

 appears sufficient to impart all that is desirable, and by after-breed- 

 ing, the improvement that may be made is as astonishing as it is un- 

 deniable. As crossing the breed in the animals before mentioned 

 has been attended with so much success, there is no reason why 

 crossing the Sheep should not also produce a favourable result. 



It must not be supposed, because the Chinese have banished their 

 Sheep (having found cotton and rice more suited to their climate 

 and better adapted to their wants), that they are unworthy of our 

 notice, taking into consideration that in this country we cannot grow 

 cotton or rice. 



Having witnessed the many attempts that have been made to re- 

 duce some of the existing wild animals to a state of domestication, 

 and observing the utter failure in all instances of producing what 

 may fairly be called a domestic variety of any true species, I am 

 inclined to believe it is necessary as a means of reducing wild animaxS 

 to a domestic condition, that they must be crossed with nearly allied 

 species ; by this means the creatures are rendered unnatural, and 

 consequently dependent on man. Different varieties would doubtless 

 be produced, according to the manner in which they were crossed, 

 and permanent varieties would be thus established. Such is the 

 opinion at w^hich I have arrived, after a long and mature considera- 

 tion of this extremely interesting subject. 



June 23, 1857.— Dr. Gray, F.R.S., V.P. Zool. & Ent. Soc, 

 in the Chair. 



On Two Species of Bats inhabiting New Zealand. 

 By Robert F. Tomes. 



The first notice of the occurrence of Cheiroptera in New Zealand 

 was given by Forster in 1 772-7 A *, who recorded the occurrence of 

 a Bat flying over the sea-shore near the margin of a wood in the 

 estuary of Queen Charlotte. It was shot, but being struck only in 

 the wing, lived for two days. " He was described by me," says he, 

 "and was drawn by my son." To this species Forster gave the 

 name of Vespertilio tuherculatus. The description has been pub- 

 lished in the work noted below, and the drawing is now in the British 

 Museum. I shall have occasion to refer to both the description and 

 the figure. 



In 1843 Dr. Gray gave a very condensed description of a Bat in 

 the Appendix to Dieffenbach's Travels in New Zealand, which he, 

 believing to be the species mentioned in the MSS. of Forster, called 

 by the same specific name. As Dr. Gray had specimens for exami- 

 nation, he at once perceived that they could by no means be consi- 

 dered as representatives of the genus Vespertilio, and that they did 

 not even belong to the same family. Accordingly we find them 

 in the * Catalogue of the Mammalia of the British Museum,' pub- 



* Descriptiones animalium in itinere ad maris australis terras per annos 1 772-74 

 suscepto observatorum, edidit H. Lichtenstein. 1844. 



