PREFACE. 



The Cntalogjiie ■oi Chiroptem in the British Museum by Dr. G. 

 E. Dobson, published b}- the Trustees in 1878, proved to be, as 

 was expected, a work of great utility to zoologists, the systematic 

 arrangemeut of these animals having bceu previously in a state 

 of the utmost confusion. The Catalogue was therefore generally 

 welcomed, and as a consequence soon ran out of print and became 

 almost unobtainaMe. Iforeover, the stimulus it gave to the study 

 of Bats rapidly tended to render it obsolete, and a new edition has 

 therefore long been a desideratum. 



But owing to the difficulties of the subject and the necessity that 

 the writer should be able to give his whole time to the work, 

 undistracted by official duties, it has not previously been possible 

 to arrange for tlie publication of a second edition. 



Two or three years ago, however, the Trustees were fortunately 

 able to secure the services of Dr. Ivnud Andersen, who had already 

 made a special study of Bats, and who has been able to devote 

 himself uninterruptedly to the preparation of the present woik. 



This Kdition is in reality a completely new and (irigiiial Mono- 

 grajdi of the Order Cbirnptera, ior materiids. metliods of work, and 

 ideas on si>ecies have all so radically ch:ingcd since 1878, that 

 notliing remains of the first edition — good as that was for its 

 date— but the title. 



So great is the increase in the general knowledge of the subject 

 and also in the material examined and described, that whereas in 



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