54 VESPERTILIONID.E— NYCTALUS 



flies all night, they, in the words of Moffat, "cram themselves 

 to bursting-point, either once or twice in the twenty-four hours, 

 during a 70-minutes' career of mad excitement among the 

 twilight-flying beetles and gnats." 



The genus is of wide distribution, having representatives allied 

 to N. noctula — viz., in Japan, N. lasiopterus (Schreber), with the 

 forearm measuring 60 or more mm. ; central and south-eastern 

 Europe,^ N. maximus (Fatio), a mysterious giant of undetermined 

 status (see Mr Miller, Proc. Biol. Soc, Washington, 13th June 

 1900, 156), with the forearm of 68 mm. and remarkable skull ; 

 Sumatra, N. sumatrana (Cuvier^) ; China, N. plancyi (Gerbe) ; 

 the Himalayas, N. labiata (Hodgson) ; and Mozambique, 

 N. macuanus (Peters) ; the last four very little known. Allied 

 to A^. leisleri are N. stenopterus (Dobson) of Borneo and 

 Malaysia, a very distinct dusky bat with the forearm of about 

 2i"j mm. ; my A^. montamcs, of the Himalayas, and N. ve^^rucosus 

 (Bowdich), antedating my N. madeircEy of Madeira, of size 

 similar to leisleri, but with distinct crania ; and N. azoreum 

 (Thomas), of the Azores, a small form, with the forearm vary- 

 ing from 35-39 in males to from 39-41 mm. in females. 



The most nearly allied genera (see "^'ingQ, Jordf undue og 

 nulevende Flagermaus (Ckiropterd) fra Lagoa Santa, Minas 

 Geraes, Brasilien, in E. Museo Lttndii, ii., i, Kopenhaven, 1893) 

 are Pipistrelliis and Barbastellus, described below : Chalinobus, 

 of the Australian and Ethiopian regions, with fleshy lobule to 

 the lower lip ; Scotophilus, of the Ethiopian, Oriental, and 

 Australian regions, with only thirty teeth ; Harpy iocephalus, 

 of the Oriental region, with tubular nostrils ; the long-eared 

 Otonypteris, from N.E. Africa and the Himalayas ; Nyctophilus, 

 with thirty teeth and small nose-leaf, from Australia ; Lasiurtcs, 

 of North and South America, with four mammse and hairy 

 interfemoral membrane ; and Antrozous, with remarkable 

 muzzle, and only four lower incisors, of North America. 



The generic characters are as follows : — The body is large 

 and heavily built. 



1 Not found in Switzerland recently (see Mottaz, Bull. Soc. ZooL, Geneva, 15th 

 Nov. 1908, 150. 



2 Stated to be of Cuvier, but I have not been able to find the original 

 description. 



