NO. 5 MAMMALS OF PANAMA — GOLDMAN 2I3 



MYOTIS NIGRICANS (Wied) 

 Little Black Bat 



J'[espertilio] nigricans Wied, Beitrage zur Naturgesch, v. Brasilien, Vol. 2, 

 p. 266, 1826. Type from Fazenda de Aga, near the Iritiba River, south- 

 eastern Brazil. 



yiespertilio] exiauus H. Allen, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1866, 

 p. 281. Type from Aspinwall (now Colon), Panama. 



Myotis chiriquensis Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. 20, p. 77, 

 February 29, 1504. Type from Boqueron, Chiriqui, Panama. 



I,. 



Fig. 19. — Myotis nigricans. 

 No. 179721, U. S. Nat. Mus. About nal. size. 



The little black bat is a small, slender, blackish or brownish black 

 species with a very small foot. In general appearance it is not very 

 unlike Eptesicns propinquus, but is distinctly smaller. The forearm 

 measures about 34 millimeters. Specimens from Panama seem indis- 

 tinguishable in any way from a series from Sapucay, Paraguay, 

 assumed to represent typical M. nigricans. 



At Bohio a few of these bats were located in a vacant part of the 

 old police station. They were clinging to the wall, several inches 

 apart in an upper corner of a half-dark room. Others were found 

 in an old tunnel formerly used for the storage of dynamite at the 

 same locality. A specimen from PiUgaba is recorded by Bangs 

 (1902, p. 50), and two from Boqueron are listed by Allen (1904, 

 p. yy). Anthony (1916, p. 373) notes the species from Chepigana, 

 Cituro, Real de Santa Maria, Gatun, Tacarcuna, and Tapalisa as 

 Myotis chiriquensis. 



The type of Vespertilio exiguus H. Allen has been searched for in 

 the U. S. National Museum, and Mr. James A. G. Rehn informs me 

 that it cannot be found in the collection of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia. It seems to have been lost. The descrip- 

 tion is of a small bat conforming closely in size and general characters 

 with Myotis nigricans and it seems best to assign the name to the 

 synonym of this species. 



Examination of the type of Myotis chiriquensis shows that the 

 forearm was broken off when the specimen was prepared and it is 

 not, therefore, normally so short as Dr. Allen supposed. There 

 seems to be no character by which it may be separated from 

 M. nigricans. 



