ORDER OF BATS 



315 



alove. Greater part of the United States and southern 

 Canada. 



Florida Brown Bat. — El^tcsicus fusnis osccola 

 Rhoads. Color more cinnamon-hrown. Florida and 

 Gulf States to Texas. 



Pallid Brown Bat. — Ef<fi'sicus fusciis f'allidits 

 (Young). Much paler than Common Brown Bat; 

 brownish-ashy above. Colorado. 



Florida Bat. — Dasyptcrus floridanns Miller. .'\p- 

 pearance much like that of Common Brown Bat but 

 interfemoral membrane furred on dorsal half: color 

 light yellowish-brown. Florida and Gulf Coast west to 

 Louisiana. 



Rafinesque's Bat. — Xycticcius huiiu-ralis ( Rafin- 

 esque). Smaller than Common Brown Bat, with tip of 

 tail free of the membrane; umber-brown above. 

 Eastern United States west to Arkansas and southern 

 Te-as. 



Big-eared Bat, or Lump-nosed Bat. — Corynnrhinus 

 macrotis macrotis (LeConte). Size about that of Com- 

 mon Brown Bat; ears enormous, 1.25 inches high, joined 

 at base ; a thick club-shaped enlargement between eyes 

 and nostrils ; yellowish-brown above, grayish-white 

 below. Eastern United .States in southern portion. 



Spotted Bat, or Jackass Bat. — Eudcrma maculatitm 

 (Allen). Ears even larger than those of Big-eared Bat. 

 about 1.5 inches high by nearly an inch wide; nose 

 without any excrescences ; color peculiar in being dis- 



tinctly spotted, a white spot on each shoulder and one 

 on rump, and whitish areas at base of ears and upper 

 sides of neck; fur elsewhere above dark sepia; below 

 fur black at base, white at tips; size about that of Com- 

 mon Brown Bat. Scattered localities in the Southwest; 

 California. Xew Mexico and .Arizona. 



Pale Bat. — Antrozous pallidus pallidus (LeConte). 

 Size that of Common Brown Bat; ears large; tragus 

 tall, slender, straight ; drab-gray above, grayish-white 

 below. Desert region of eastern California, Nevada, 

 Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas. 



Silvery-haired Bat. — Lasioiiyctcris noctivagans 

 (LeConte). Somewhat smaller than Common Brown 

 Bat but general proportions much the same. Has 4 

 premolars, but otherwise the dental formula is the 

 same. Head small ; ears short, not so broad as long ; 

 tragus short and straight, rounded at tip ; body small ; 

 wings large ; hind feet slender ; interfemoral membrane 

 extensive, furred for about half its width above ; tail 

 fairly long but less than half total length ; general color 

 sooty brown with the hairs silver-tipped. Total length, 

 4 inches. A common Bat in many regions. 



Little Brown Bat. — Myotis hicifugus lucifuiius 

 (LeConte). See special synopsis. 



Least Brown Bat. — Pipisti-ctlns hcsf>crus Itrsperus 

 (H. .Allen). See special synopsis. 



Red Bat. — Lasiurus borcalis borcalis (Muller). See 

 special synopsis. 



One of the strangest of all aninials is the Bat. 

 A true mammal, it yet has habits in common 

 with the birds ; while among the diflferent species 

 the variety of forms it exhibits is fairly bewil- 

 dering. All over the world they are found, the 

 total number of species being about 1200: but a 

 large proportion of these are known only by 

 their skins or skeletons in some museum. 



The largest Bats are fotmd in the tro])ics. The 

 United States, being in a temperate zone, con- 

 tains only a few of the smaller species. All Bats 

 living in the colder regions must either hiber- 

 nate in winter, or migrate. 



The lack of common knowledge about Bats is 

 remarkable. Many persons fear them, although 

 our native Bats are weak and harmless. The 

 great majority of Bats are useful to man in de- 

 stroying btigs and insects. The more dangerous 

 species, such as blood-r.uckers, or Vampires, in- 

 habit the tropics. " To be ' as blind as a Bat ' is 

 not to be blind at all," says Hornaday, "' but rather 

 -to possess powers of vision that are uncommonly 

 good in semi-darkness, or at night, and fairly 

 good even in the broad light of day. ^^'hen di.i- 

 turbed at midday, all the Bats I have seen alive 

 ( perhaps twenty species in all ) have flown away 

 to places of security as briskly and successfully 

 as so many swallows. The eyes of all night- 



flying Bats are small, jet black, and look like 

 tiny black beads, but those of the day-flving 

 Fruit-Bats are very mtich larger in proportion." 



As previously remarked, very little is known 

 regarding the habits of the Bats, chiefly because 

 their nocturnal habits make it very difiicttlt to 

 find them, or to observe them. We know that 

 in winter some of our species live in caves, in a 

 semi-dormant condition. Dr. C. H. Eigenmann 

 says, of the thousands that inhabit Mammoth 

 Cave, " they fly readily if disturbed in the sum- 

 mer, but in winter they hang apparently dead. 

 If distiu'bed, a few res])iratory movements may 

 be seen, and they may utter a few squeaks, when 

 they again remain apparently lifeless. If knocked 

 from the roof some of them fall to the bottom 

 of the cave and flap about, others fly away. I 

 have seen them leave a cave in midwinter, after 

 being disturbed, but fly no further than a hun- 

 dred yards, then turn and enter the cave again." 



In central Montana, where there are no trees, 

 a large colony of Bats inhabit a cave that a sub- 

 terranean stream had washed under the prairie. 

 In Arizona there is a cave which is said to con- 

 tain " a million " Bats. " Once while hunting 

 Elephants in the Malay Peninsula," says Horn- 

 aday, " the attention of my companion and my- 

 self was arrested by a strange, pungent odor 



