150 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April 



condition conducive to a rapid increase of all kinds of vermin. 

 In this country the common bed-bug (Cimex, leetularu) is fre- 

 quently found upon their fur. The entrance of a bat with its 

 precious burden, into the open window of a farm-house, is the 

 solution of that frequently-propounded question of the despairing 

 house-wife, " Where can the bugs come from ?" 



Of individual anecdotes of bats we have but few examples. 

 The following, illustrating the material instinct, is taken from 

 Godman's Nat. Hist., i, 1831, 56. It is narrated by Mr. Titian 

 Peale:— 



" In June, 1823, the son of Mr. Gillespie, the keeper of the city 

 square, caught a young red bat (L. Nov-Eboracensis), which he 

 took home with him. Three hours afterwards, in the evening, as 

 he was conveying it to the Museum in his hand, while passing 

 near the place where it was caught, the mother made her appear- 

 ance and followed the boy for two squares, flying around him, 

 •and finally alighted on his breast, such was her anxiety to save 

 her offspring. Both were brought to the Museum — the young 

 one firmly adhering to its mother's teat. This faithful creature 

 lived two days in the Museum, and then died of injuries received 

 from her captor. The young one, being but half grown, was still 

 too young to take care of itself, and died shortly after." 



Like most specialists in these days, the author has a tendency 

 to form genera and families on very trivial characters, and thus 

 arrives at a classification which, though convenient for reference, 

 is not natural. As a consequence of this, he elevates the bats to 

 the rank of an Order, an arrangement which certainly will not 

 accord with any natural division of the class Mammalia. 



Of the species described in the work, the following have been 

 recognised at Montreal : 



Lasiurus cinereus, Palisot de Beau- Scotopkilus noctivagans, Leconte, 



vois, (the Hoary Bat). (the Silvery-haired Bat). 



Lasiurus Nov-Eboracensis, Tomes, Vespertilis subulatus, Say, 



(the Red Bat). (the Little Brown Bat). 



"Flora of the British West-Indian Islands." By A. 

 H. B. Grisebach, M.D., Professor of Botany, in the University 

 of Gottingen, London, 1864. 



This is one of the Colonial Floras, to which reference has 

 often been made in our pages. It includes all the Phenogamic 



