318 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Yol. XXVII, 



II. The Chiroptera. 



Historical Notes. 



Early naturalists generally regarded bats as birds with " ailes-de-peau" 

 which brought forth living young (Gervais, 1835). During the renaissance 

 the ancient view was still held, even by Aldrovandus, who minutely described 

 them (Gervais). 



1693. Ray })laces the bats in the "anomalous" division of the ungui- 

 culates, along with the sloth. He says that except with regard to their 

 wings and mode of flight they do not agree with birds any more than does 

 the winged lizard, but are essentially viviparous quadrupeds. The bats are 

 treated under the heading "Quadrupeda multifida rostro breviore anomala, 

 & primo volatica seu Vespertiliones." The Sloths are described under the 

 next section, "Secundo gressile, tardipes. Ai sive Ignavus" [Bradi/pus tri- 

 dactijlus]. 



1735. Linna-us in the first edition of the 'Systema' places the Bats after 

 the carnivores. Later he placed them with the " Anthropomorpha " (later 

 = Primates). He regarded them as intermediate between the Lenmrs and 

 Brady pus and named them "Vespertilio." 



1779. Blumenbach proposes the name "Chiroptera" for the group. 



1792. Vicq d'Azyr groups the Bats in the ordre "ailepieds" {cf. the 

 classic Latin epithet "ali-pes," wing-footed, applied to INIercury). 



Through the labors of Daubenton and Geoffroy, Fred. Cuvier, Leach, 

 and others, many new kinds and divisions were recognized, so that by 1820 

 Desmarest enumerated ninety-five species. 



1800. Cuvier groups "les Cheiropteres" with Galeopithecus and places 

 them next to " les Plantigrades" in the order "Carnassiers." 



1816. De Blainville intimately unites them with "les Taupes" (Tal- 

 pidje) and "les Phoques" (Pinnipeds) as a main division "anomaux" of 

 the order Carnassiers. Galeopithecus he places with the Primates. 



1834. De Blainville removes the Pinnipedia from this group. 



1839. De Blainville places the "Cheiropteri" with the "Orycteri" and 

 the "Insectivori" in a grand division "Clavicules" of the Carnassiers. 



By all subsecjuent authors the bats were restored to their ordinal inde- 

 pendence. 



1872. Gill divides the order into the " Animalivora" and "Frugivora." 



1880. Huxley emphasizes their relationship to the Insectivora. 



1875. Dobson divides the order into the suborders "Megacheiroptera" 

 and " Microcheiroptera." 



1904. Weber gives an excellent review of the morphology and classifi- 

 cation ; in the latter he combines "Winge's results with those of earlier authors. 



