AMERICAN BATS — ^HANDLEY 155 



type region, Allen considered specimens from Burkes Garden, Va., 

 to be typical. 



That Vesperlilio megalotis Raflnesque is a junior homonym of Vespo'- 

 tilio megalotis Bechstein (1800, p. 622) escaped Allen's notice. Bech- 

 stein's V. megalotis is based on Le Vaillant's (1796, p. 279) description 

 of a bat that came into his tent while he was one or two day's journey 

 north of the Orange River in Great Namaqualand, South-West Africa 

 (about lat. 28° S.). There is little doubt that Bechstein's VespertUio 

 megalotis is a member of the megadermatid genus Lavia. The descrip- 

 tion, except for the measurements, is an accurate one for that genus. 

 No specimen of this family has been reported subsequently south of 

 lat. 15° S. 



Thomas (1916, p. 127) pointed out the unavailability of the name 

 V. megalotis for an American bat and proposed the substitution of 

 P. rafinesquii Lesson in its place. Subsequently the two eastern 

 American species of Plecotus have been known as P. macrotis (South- 

 eastern States) and P. rafinesquii (North-Central States) . Collections 

 of Plecotus from north of the Ohio River have never been critically 

 examined (e.g., Lyon, 1936, p. 86). 



Numerous specimens of big-eared bats are now available from the 

 type region of Lesson's P. rafinesquii: the Ohio Valley and upper 

 Mississippi Valley States of Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, 

 Ohio, and West Virginia. All of those specimens are the "C. macrotis" 

 of G. M. Allen. Big-eared bats from a small portion of the Appala- 

 chian Highlands in western Virginia, eastern West Virginia, and east- 

 ern Kentucky are the "C. rafinesquii" of G. M. AUen. Likewise, 

 specimens from the Ozark Higlilands of northwestern Arkansas, and 

 from the gypsum cave area of south-central Kansas, Oklahoma, and 

 northern Texas are the "C. rafinesquii" of G. M. Allen, Instead of 

 having a continuous distribution from Virginia to Kansas as Allen 

 supposed, his "C. rafinesquii" apparently is isolated in the central 

 Appalachians, and reappears again to the westward only in the Ozark 

 Highlands and beyond. 



Fm-ther, Lesson's description of P. rafinesquii, "Pelage dark gray 

 above, and pale gray below . . . ." comes closer to the yellowish 

 brown above, grayish white below of Allen's "C. macrotis" than it 

 does to Allen's "(7. rafinesquii" which is reddish brown above, buffy 

 below. In this connection, Neill's observation (1953, p. 383) on the 

 appearance of a live example of P. macrotis is pertinent: 



In life, the dorsal hairs were dark, grayish-black with light, horn-colored tips. 

 These light tips were very inconspicuous, however, and to casual inspection the 

 upper surfaces were grayish-black. The ventral hairs were dark gray with whitish 

 tips which were more evident posteriorly. 



