ALLEN: BATS OF THE GENUS CORYNORHINUS. 337 



Virginia. Among mammals, he lists " Bats, as I remember, at least 

 two sorts; one a large sort with Long Ears, and particularly long 

 straggling Hairs; the other much like the English, something larger, 

 I think, very Common." The long ears of the first sort may perhaps 

 identify it with Corynorhinus; the other was possibly an Eptesicus. 

 It was not until 1818, however, that the naturalist Rafinesque named 

 and briefly described Vcspertilio megalotis from a specimen captured 

 somewhere on "the lower parts of the Ohio" River, the Wabash, or 

 the Green River, perhaps in Indiana. His name, which I think must 

 hold for a bat of this genus, has been generally ignored in favor of 

 LeConte's later name Plecotus macrotis based probably on specimens 

 from Georgia. A study of the large number of skins which I have 

 been able to assemble from many parts of the range of the genus shows, 

 rather unexpectedly, that the bat of the eastern United States west of 

 the Alleghenies is quite different from the dark brown, white-bellied 

 animall of the south Atlantic and Gulf States, to which the name 

 macrotis strictly applies. In the species inhabiting the interior and 

 western parts of the United States, the contrast in color between the 

 tips and the bases of the hairs of both surfaces is not abrupt as in 

 macrotis but passes imperceptibly from a dark base to a differently 

 colored tip, nor are the hairs of the lower surface tipped with pure 

 white. To this species, Rafinesque's name must apply. West of the 

 Mississippi, this species gradually becomes paler, and over the Rocky 

 Mountain area and the Southwest is a dull buffy color. To this race 

 of megalotis, Miller's (1897) name imllescens applies. On the humid 

 northwest coast, a gradual darkening takes place, and a strongly 

 marked subspecies is again recognizable, to which the name townsendii 

 was given by Cooper in 1837. On the Mexican tableland, the same 

 type of bat is found, but of a dark smoky hue and slightly reduced 

 proportions, which I here describe as new. Apparently the white- 

 bellied Corynorhinus macrotis of the Atlantic slope and Gulf States 

 as far west at least as Louisiana, does not intergrade with the differ- 

 ently colored representatives to the West, and I am therefore provi- 

 sionally regarding it as a distinct species. Still a third species, with 

 very large and differently formed ears and peculiar skull is represented 

 by a single specimen from central Mexico, and has remained hitherto 

 undescribed. The brief synonymy given under each name in the 

 descriptions which follow, indicates sufficiently the opinions of previous 

 writers as to the nomenclature of this genus. 



