462 On the Nomenclature of the Short-eared New-Zealand Bat. 



LVIII. — Note on the Nomenclature of the Short-eared 

 New-Zealand Bat. Bj Oldfield Thomas. 



It has always been a subject of regret that, owing to Graj's 

 error in ascribing * to Forster's " VespertiUo tubercula- 

 tus " a specimen of the Long-eared Bat of New Zealand, 

 which he then described and made the type of the genus 

 Mi/stacina, the specific names of the two New-Zealand bats 

 should have been identical, an identity particularly incon- 

 venient to writers on the fauna of that country. It'is there- 

 fore with some pleasure that I am now able to point out that 

 the names of the two species should after all not both be 

 " tuhercuJatus.'''' 



The Mysiacina unquestionably should bear that name ; but 

 in the case of the otlier species, referred in modern times to 

 tlie genus Chalinolohusj the name tuherculatus has not the 

 priority of publication^ although dating in manuscript from 

 the last century. It is now universally recognized that 

 manuscript names do not confer priority, and before Forster's 

 description of 1772-74 was published by Lichtcnstein in 1844t 

 a second name had been given to the bat by Dr. Gray, who 

 described a specimen from South Australia as Scotophilus 

 morio\, and under the latter short and convenient specific 

 name the Chalinolohus should certainly stand. 



Instead, therefore, of Chalinolohus tuhercidutus and Mysia- 

 cina tulerculata we shall have Chalinolohus morio and 

 Mystacina tuherculata as the two bats of New Zealand, both 

 of them being represented by tlieir type specimens in the 

 National Collection. 



^ In this connexion it may be pointed out that Chalinolohus 

 signifer, Dobs.§, from Queensland, is in all probability the 

 same as Ch. morio, its distinguishing character- — the trans- 

 verse cutaneous lobule on the muzzle — being a mark of old 

 age, especially developed in the male sex, and not of specific 

 distinctness. A male specimen from one of the outlying 

 islands round Stewart Island, New Zealand, recently pre- 

 sented to the Museum by Mr. Charles Traill, has this lobule 

 quite as well marked as in the type of Ch. signifer, and all 

 the other fully adult specimens of Ch. morio in the Museum 

 show some trace of the same lobule, while in immature indi- 

 viduals no sign of it is present. 



* Voy, ' Sulphur,' Mamm. p. 23 (1843). 



t Forst. Descr. Anim., ed. Licht. p. (32 (1844). 



J Gray's Austr., App. ii. p. 405 (1841). 



§ Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist [4] xvii. p. 289 (1876). 



