338 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



CoRYNORHiNUS MEGALOTis (Rafinesque). 



Rafinesque's Big-eared Bat. 



Vespertilio megalotis Rafinesque, Amer. monthly mag., 1818, 3, no. 6, p. 446. 

 Plecotus rafinesquii Lesson, Manuel de mammalogie, 1827, p. 96. (Renaming 



of Rafinesque's V. megalotis). 

 Corynorhinus macrotis Miller, N. Amer. fauna, 1897, no. 13, p. 51 (? in part, 



Kentucky specimen cited). 



Type. — None specified, and original specimens not known to be 

 extant. 



Type Locality. — "The lower parts of the Ohio" River, probably in 

 southern Indiana and Illinois or western Kentucky in the region 

 between the ^Yabash and the Green Rivers. 



Distribidion. — Central eastern United States from extreme western 

 Virginia, through Kentucky, southern Indiana and Illinois, to Kansas, 

 intergrading wdth the race pallcscens to the westward. 



General Characters. — Largest of the megalotis-macrotis group; 

 bases and tips of hairs, above and below, not strongly and sharply 

 contrasted in color. 



Color. — Adults: bases of the hairs, on dorsal surfaces of the body, 

 gray or slaty gray shading by imperceptible degrees into a 'wood 

 brown' (Ridgway, 1912) at the sides, and a 'clove brown' over the 

 median area of the back. The amount of ' clove brown ' wash over 

 the back varies slightly in individuals, but conduces to a much darker, 

 more drabby appearance than is found in typical pallcscens. Downy 

 hairs at the bases of the ears posteriorly are whitish. Ventral sur- 

 faces 'pale pinkish buff,' the bases of the hairs shading into grayish. 



Immature specimens (No. 157075 Biol. Surv. C oil., Burke's Garden, 

 Va., 7 August, 1908), are uniform dark 'hair brown' to 'fuscous' 

 above to the bases of the hairs; below, pale 'hair brown' the hair 

 along the sides and on the belly paling at the tips to a dirty whitish. 

 Compared with immature pallescens, it is more uniformly dark, lacking 

 the light buffy admixture. It is also darker and larger than the 

 Mexican race. 



Skull. — The skull is largest of all the viegalotis-macrotis group, with 

 broad depressed rostrum, and large brain case. The intermaxillary 

 notch viewed from above is rather larger with wider-bowing sides 

 than that of macrotis. The inner upper incisor is usually without 

 trace of a secondary outer cusp, though in one of four specimens from 



