BATS. 351 



tera are numerous, and perhaps most notably so in the case of the 

 genus Vesperugo, of the family Yespertilionidae. Yesperugo noc- 

 tula, the noctule, is distributed throughout the greater part of the 

 Old World, from England to Japan, and from the Scandinavian 

 peninsula to Southern Africa; it extends through India to Ceylon 

 and the islands of the Malay Archipelago. Vesperugo abramus, 

 whose home is primarily the Oriental region, extending from Japan 

 to Northern Australia, is found during the summer months through- 

 out Middle Europe, and even as far north as Sweden ; the species 

 furnishes us with a remarkable example of a true migrant. The 

 range of V. maurus extends from the Canary Islands (Palma, Teue- 

 riffe) through Central Europe (Switzerland, the Tyrol) to China and 

 Java, and that of Miniopterus Schreibersii from Southern Euroj^e 

 (Spain, Italy) to Japan and the Philippine Islands, and throughout 

 the whole of Africa (with IMadagascar) eastward to Australia. The 

 last is probably the most widely distributed of all known species 

 of bats, with the exception of the little serotine (Vesperugo sero- 

 tinus), whose distributional area covers nearly the whole of Eurasia, 

 Northern and Central Africa, and, in the New World, the American 

 continent from Lake Winnipeg to Central America, and the West 

 Indian islands. This is the only species that has been thus far 

 positively identified as being common to both the Eastern and 

 Western Hemispheres.* Of the strictly American species Atalapha 

 Noveboracensis, in its several varietal forms, appears to be the 

 most widely distributed, ranging from the Aleutian Islands to 

 Chili. 



Of the six families into which the Cheiroptera have been divided 

 only two, the Vespertilionidae and the Emballonuridoe, are common 

 to both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres; the former com- 

 prise some one hundred and sixty or more species, fully three- 

 quarters of which are confined to the Old World, over which tliey 

 are very extensively distributed. This is the mo^t broadly dis- 

 tributed of all the families, and is that which has the most north- 

 erly range. Of its sixteen or more genera, at least five of which 

 — Antrozous, Nycticejus, Atalapha, Natalus, and Thryoptera — are 

 peculiar to America, only two, Vesperugo and Vespertilio, the 



* Vesperugo abramus is thought by Dobson to be possibly identical with 

 a species (Scotophilus hcsperus of Allen) from Vancouver's Island ("Cat. 

 Cheir. Brit. Mus.," p. 229). 



