THE BROWN BAT IN WISCONSIN. 

 Bptesicus fuscus fuscus (Beauvois). 



By Henry L. Ward. 



The earliest mention of this species as an inhabitant of Wis- 

 consin is apparently in Strong's list under the entry "Scotophilus 

 fuscus Palisot. Brown Bat." ("Palisot" stands for Palisot de 

 Beauvois, which is properly abbreviated in nomenclature to 

 "Beauvois" or "Beauv."). His only reason given for citing this 

 species is contained in the note prefatory to the bats which be- 

 gins : "Within the confines of Wisconsin eight species of bats 

 have been observed." None of the species listed are annotated 

 as to locality within the state where observed, by whom, 

 whether or not collected, nor where preserved. Unfortunately the 

 above cited list partakes so largely of hearsay evidence and so 

 completely fails to meet the requirements of modern zoologists 

 that it can not be relied upon as establishing the presence of any 

 considerable number of the mammals therein mentioned. There 

 appears to have existed heretofore no reliable data for the inclusion 

 of this species in a Wisconsin list and therefore we find that 

 Jackson 2 omitted mention of it and that Hollister 3 did not include 

 it in his Check-list proper, though in his "Hypothetical List" fol- 

 lowing it is given a place with two citations, "Scotophilus caro- 

 linensis" and "S. fuscus Strong 1883." In a note to a species pre- 

 viously cited from Strong's list is the statement apparently war- 

 ranted and also applicable to other divisions of that list: "Strong 

 listed all the bats known from eastern and northern states, with- 

 out having local records * * * *.'" 



That the species should belong to our fauna was to be ex- 

 pected, in fact it would be remarkable were it to be absent from 



1) Strong, Moses, "List of the Mammals of Wisconsin," in "Geology 

 of Wisconsin, Survey of 1873—1879," 1883, p. 438. 



2) Jackson, Hartley H. T., "A Preliminary List of Wisconsin Mam- 

 mals," Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Society, Vol. 6, Nos. 1-2, 1908. 



3) Hollister, N., "A Check-List of Wisconsin Mammals," Bull. Wis. 

 Nat. Hist. Society, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1910. 



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