204 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. no 



types are in the Paris Museum, but Rode (1941) did not list Vesper- 

 tilio maugei in his catalog of the type specimens of Chiroptera in the 

 Paris Museum. 



Distribution: "Puerto Rico." 



Description: Following is my translation of Desmarest's (1819, 

 p. 480) description: 



Vespertilio maugei, new species. 



This bat, brought back from Puerto Rico by the late Mauge, is of medium size 

 and approaches, in its physiognomy, the barbastelle, notably by the distinguishing 

 character of the union of the ears at their internal bases. 



Its pelage is long, silky, of a blackish brown above, lighter beneath, particularly 

 in the region near the interfemoral membrane, where it becomes almost white; 

 its tail is nearly as long as the body; its membranes are of a dark gray. 



Its mouth is provided with four upper incisors of which the two inner are the 

 largest, separated from one another and bifurcate, the exterior being simple; 

 the six lower incisors overlap one another and have three lobes, and medium-sized 

 canines are very closely followed by the molars. 



The muzzle is short, slender, pointed, and forms, with the ears, a right angle; 

 the nose is rather broad, that is to say, that the nostrils are separated by a cartilage 

 in the form of a plate, which resembles somewhat a lyre; the ears are large, their 

 extremity is rounded, their exterior border notched, with a longitudinal fold 

 provided with very dense and very noticeable hairs; the tragi are pointed and do 

 not reach half the height of the ears; the eyes are small and placed at the base of the 

 latter. 



Desmarest (1820, p. 145) modified this description slightly the fol- 

 lowing year. My translation of the most significant portions of the 

 new description is as follows: 



Ears very large, united, notched exteriorly near the tip . . . Dimensions, a 

 little larger than the barbastelle. . . ." 



Remarks: For the early 19th century these are surprisingly detailed 

 descriptions. However, the bat described is quite unlike any bat 

 known to occur in the West Indies. Eptesicus is the only vespertil- 

 ionid that has subsequently been collected on Puerto Rico, and 

 Myotis, Nycticeius, and Lasiurus are the only other vespertilionid 

 genera recorded from the West Indies. 



Vespertilio maugei has been overlooked or ignored by most authors. 

 Those who have considered it (see synonymy, p. 203) have thought 

 it to be a species of Plecotus. Plecotus has not been collected subse- 

 quently in the West Indies, however, and no skeletal remains of 

 Plecotus have been recognized in the sub-Recent bone deposits that 

 are abundant in West Indian caves. 



Anthony (1918, p. 360) suggested that Mauge's specimen actually 

 was a Plecotus which had been obtained in the United States and was 

 attributed to Puerto Rico by mistake. It is true that Desmarest's 

 descriptions agree in some details with Plecotus, but there are many 

 discrepancies: Coloration of the underparts is wrong, the canines 



