24 M. de Blainville on the Classificaiion and 



1st, J as in the Scotophilus (1 + i) 



2d, I Serotinoid (J + f) 



3d, f Noctuloid (i + f) 



.4th, f Semi-Murinoid (f 4- f ) 



5th, f Murinoid (f + f) 



The consideration of the nasal concha^ which is quite want- 

 ing in some species, and is most singularly complicated in others, 

 as well as that of the auditory concha^ equally remarkable for 

 the various degrees of its development and complication, afford 

 much more secondary characters in the natural arrangement of 

 the bats, although they supply admirable characters for the dis- 

 tinction of species, but their expression is often difficult, even 

 in drawings, on account of their shading away into each other 

 in a way that is sufficiently troublesome. 



The digital system of the anterior extremities especially, the 

 tail, and the interfemoral membrane which it supports, consti- 

 tuting as they do an important element in the manner of the 

 bats'* locomotion, in truth supply characters of much greater 

 importance than the olfactory or auditory concha, inasmuch as 

 they almost always run parallel with the characters drawn from 

 the two parts already mentioned. 



Regulating himself by these suggestions, M. de Blainville is 

 disposed to arrange the sub-order of the Cheiroptera in the fol- 

 lowing method : — First, the Roussettes, as has been done by 

 all zoologists, as those Cheiroptera that approach nearest to 

 the Galeopitheci which terminate the Makis ; and as compre- 

 hending the species which are by much the least qualified for 

 flying, and are the least insectivorous, or in other words, the 

 most frugivorous ; and at the other extremity M. de Blainville 

 places the bats properly so called, as possessing the highest 

 dermal development, the greatest want of proportion in the 

 anterior extremities, and the greatest length of the tail 

 and of the interfemoral membrane which accompanies it to 

 the very extremity, whilst at the same time they possess the 

 most insectivorous dental apparatus, passing thereby towards 

 the small insectivorous carnivora, and amongst others towards 

 the moles and hamsters. 



The distribution of the species of the sub-order naturally 

 flows from this arrangement. They are first divided into three 



