SCOTOPIIILUS. 39 



Scotopliiliis noctivagans, Leconte. 



The Silvery -haired Bat. 

 Fig. 34. Fig. 35. 



Vespertilio noctivagans, Leconte, Cuv. An. Kingdom (McMurtrie ed.), I, 



June, 1831, 31.— Cooper, Ann. Lye. N. Y. IV, 1837, 59.— DeKay, Nat. 



Hist. N. Y. (Zool.), 1842, 9, pi. i, f. 1.— Wagnek, Sclireb. Saug. V, 



1855, 754. 

 Vespertilio auduboni, Harlan, Month. Amer. .Jour. GeoL Nat. Hist. I, Nov. 



1831, 220, pi. ii.— lis. Med. and Physical Researches, 1835, 30, pi. iv. 

 Vespertilio pulverulcntus, Temm. Monog. Mam. II, 1835, 235. — Leconte, Proc. 



Acad. Nat. Sci. 1855, 436.— Pr. Wied, Archiv Naturg. 1861, 192. 



Descripiion. — Head flat, broad, and moderately haired. Snout 

 naked ; nostrils wide apart, and opening sublaterally ; space be- 

 tween emarginate. The sides of the face slightly swollen. The 

 auricle is an irregular oval. The inner border ascends upwards 

 and inicards to a level with the top of the head, and then turns 

 upwards and outwards, ending in an obtuse point. The outer 

 border is smooth, and terminates inferiorly and internally in a thin 

 ridge near the angle of the mouth. The lower half of this border 

 folds irregularly upon itself, and bends so markedly inwards as 

 to touch the tragus. The tragus is straight internally, strongly 

 and abruptly convex externally — at its base narrow. It is but 

 one-third the height of auricle, and nearly as broad as high. Skin 

 of face and ears blackish, with the exception of the internal basal 

 lobe of the latter, which is whitish. 



Fur long and silky, with a marked tendency to become black, 

 and in many specimens the extreme tip of each hair is the only 

 part possessing a different hue — it being a pale gray or white. 

 The fur is thicker on the back than in front, but the coloration is 

 very similar on both sides: if there is any difference, it is where 

 the shaft of the hair in front assumes in some individuals a plum- 

 beous brown hue instead of the blackish. The characteristic 

 pulverulent dash to the fur presents a striking appearance, and 



