MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 209 



from Massachusetts, and others from Maine, the latter being at present 

 its most northern known locality. This species is believed to be now 

 for the first time reported from the Eastern States. 



It appears to me that it would have been better to have entirely ignored 

 the synonymes considered by Dr. Allen as doubtfully referring to this 

 species than to have adopted any of them for its designation. The V. geor- 

 gianns of F. Cuvier seems to me to be undoubtedly referable to V. subu- 

 lalus. If any of F. Cuvier's names are to be considered as referring to 

 it, it seems to me it is the V. Saleri of the same data, though it appears 

 highly questionable whether this also, as well as the V. monlicola of Bach- 

 man may not be more appropriately referred to V. subulatus, judg- 

 ing from the very imperfect descriptions alone. Dr. Allen, however, has 

 had the types of some of these for examination, and finds them to corre- 

 spond with what he calls S. georgianus, and it is this that appears to have 

 guided him in determining these references. 



41. Scotophilia noctivagans II. Allen. (Vespertilio noctiva- 

 gans Le Conte.) Silvery-haired Bat. Rather common. 



12. Vespertilio subulatus Say. Little Brown Bat. Com- 

 mon, especially in the Connecticut Valley. At Springfield it is one of 

 the most common, if not the most common species. 



Prior to the publication of Dr. Allen's monograph, but one species of the 

 genus Vespertilio, as now restricted, had been recognized from Massachusetts, 

 though others, based however on very doubtful characters, had been given by 

 different authors from the Middle States. All who have critically studied 

 the bats are well aware that they are quite variable in color and in many 

 other characters. Thus Dr. Allen, under Scotophilia* fuscus* in alluding 

 to certain variations in the form of the ear pointed out by Major Le Conte 

 as distinguishing certain species of European authors, which Dr. Allen 

 very properly deems to be merely nominal, observes : " While acknowledg- 

 ing that these differences may exist, I do not consider them constant. In 

 a species so extensively distributed, and in a family so well known for its 

 Protean tendencies as that to which »S. fuscas belongs, slight and variable 

 changes, confined entirely to the parts of the ear, are hardly sufficient data 

 for these separations." Under Vespertilio \ he remarks: "Owing to the 

 fact that species of this genus have a widely spread distribution, minute 

 differences in form and color in specimens brought from distant localities 



* Monograph, p. 33. f mid., p. 46. 



