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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Figure 14. — -Type localities of the Pleistocene species: 1, Plecotus alleganiensis Gidley and 

 Gazin; 2, Plecotus tetralophodon Handley. 



Comparisons: When Gidley and Gazin described Plecotus al- 

 leganiensis from the Pleistocene deposits of Cumberland Cave, Md., 

 they had little comparative material of Recent species from nearby 

 areas. I have compared the type and other cranial fragments of 

 Plecotus alleganiensis with the now abundant material of P. townsendii 

 from West Virginia and of P. rajinesquii from the southeastern 

 United States. While some of the characters ascribed to P. al- 

 leganiensis by Gidley and Gazin are not as distinctive as they supposed, 

 still there are sufficient differences to wan-ant separation of P. al- 

 leganiensis from P. townsendii and P. rajinesquii. 



The faint supraorbital ridges and the prominent, independent, 

 temporal ridges distinguish P. alleganiensis from the Recent species. 

 In both specimens of P. alleganiensis that have the middorsal portion 

 of the skull intact, the supraorbital and temporal ridges are continu- 

 ous, and the temporal ridges converge posteriorly to within about 

 0.75 mm. of each other, but do not merge to form a sagittal crest. 

 In Recent species of the subgenus Corynorhinus the temporal ridges 

 sometimes extend into the interorbital region, but there is no supra- 

 orbital ridge. A sagittal crest usually is present in Recent species 

 (exceptions noted are a specimen of P. mexicanus (KU 29911) from 



