156 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM toi-. ho 



My own observations of living specimens of the mid-Appalachian big- 

 eared bat ("C. rajtnesquii" of G. M. Allen) show it to be as brown in 

 appearance when living as when made up as a study skin. It could 

 not be described as "dark gray above" under any circumstances. 



Thus, as first pointed out by G. M. Allen (1916, p. 339), there are 

 two species of Plecotus in the eastern United States. Current applica- 

 tion of names and delineation of geographic distributions for the two 

 species are incorrect, however. One species inhabits the southeastern 

 and central United States. The names P. rafinesquii Lesson {=V. 

 megalotis Rafinesque) (tjrpe locality, "Lower Ohio Valley") and P. 

 macrotis LeConte (type locality, "Georgia") are available for it. The 

 earlier name is P. rafinesquii Lesson. The second species inhabits 

 the central Appalachian Highlands, the Ozark Highlands, and the 

 western United States, southwestern Canada, and Mexico. The 

 earliest name for this species is P. townsendii Cooper (type locality, 

 "Columbia River") (Handley, 1955c, p. 147). 



Although the geographic ranges of P. rafinesquii and P. townsendii 

 overlap in the Appalachian Highlands and are at least contiguous in 

 the Ozark Highlands, the two forms have never been taken at the 

 same locality. Frum (1948, p. 418) secured specimens of typical P. 

 rafinesquii near the region inhabited by P. townsendii in West Virginia. 

 Barbour (1957, p. 141) collected typical P. townsendii within the range 

 of P. rafinesquii in Powell County, Ky. Welter and Sollberger (1939, 

 p. 79) reported P. townsendii from nearby Rowan County, Ky. How- 

 ever, this identification is questionable since no specimen was pre- 

 served (Barbour, 1957, p. 141). Typical P. rafinesquii (MCZ 6062) 

 has been collected on the Osage River in Arkansas. This locality 

 cannot be pinpointed but may be within the range of P. townsendii. 

 A skeleton (KU 5645) of P. rafinesquii from Crawford County, Ark. 

 (Black, 1936, p. 30), was secured near collecting stations of P. town- 

 sendii, but at a lower elevation, in the Lower Austral zone. 



P. rafinesquii is polytypic. One geographic race inhabits the At- 

 lantic and Gulf Coast regions, the other the area west of the Appala- 

 chians and north of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Lesson's 

 name P. rafinesquii can be used for the interior race, and LeConte's 

 P. macrotis for the coastal race. 



Habitat: Plecotus rafinesquii occurs in a forested region largely 

 devoid of natural caves. It has been observed most frequently in 

 buildings. Natural roosting places are hollow trees, crevices behind 

 loose bark, and similar arboreal retreats. Lowery (1943, p. 224) found 

 it in hollow trees (as well as in buildings) in Louisiana; a specimen in 

 the U.S. National Museum was collected in a hollow cypress in the 

 Dismal Swamp of Virginia; and Harper (1927, p. 280) was told of one 

 that had been found under dry leaves in a cypress swamp in Georgia. 



