MYOTIS 141 



1866. Tralatitius, J. E. Gray, Ann. atid Mag. Nat. Hist., 90, February; a mis- 

 print for TiHlatitiis. 



1867. Pternopterus, Wilhelm Peters, Monatsberichie der Koniglich Akad. der 

 Wissenschaften (Berlin), 706 ; a sub-genus of Vespertilio = MVOTIS, based on 

 P. lobipes of Peters = V. muricola of Hodgson. 



1870. EXOCHURUS, L. J. Fitzinger, Sitzungsberichie der Kaiserlichen Akad. der 

 Wissenschafteji (Vienna), Ixii., i, 75-81 ; based on Vespertilio inacrodactylus of 

 Temminck, V. //^/-^T?]?/^// of Temminck, and V. inacrotarsus of Waterhouse. 



1870. Aeorestes, L. J. Fitzinger, op. cit., 427-436 ; included Vespertilio villosissiiniis 

 of Geoffroy, V. albescens of Geoffroy, V. nigtHcans of Maximilian, and V. levis of 

 Geoffroy. 



1870. CoMASTES, L. J. Fitzinger, op. cit., 565-579 ; included Vespertilio capaccini of 

 Bonaparte, V. nicgapodius of Temminck, V. dasycneme of Boie, and V. limnophilus 

 of Temminck. 



Classification and synonymy : — As shown by Mr Miller, the 

 genus Vespertilio of Linnaeus contained none of the large group 

 of bats with thirty-eight teeth, to which the name was applied by 

 Bell and others. These have, moreover, clearly nothing to do 

 with the thirty-two toothed members of that genus as here 

 applied, and have accordingly been allocated by recent writers 

 to the genus Myotis of Kaup, the first based upon a member of 

 the group. 



This large genus comprises a multitude of species, some 

 of which are found in nearly all tropical and temperate regions 

 of the globe, so that the area of their distribution is probably 

 unexcelled in extent by that of any other bats. 



There are four British species- — daubentoni, myslacinus, 

 the rare becksteini, and nattereri. A fifth, the common con- 

 tinental M. myosotis (see page 190), has often been included in 

 works on British natural history, but is certainly not a regular 

 inhabitant of this country ; a sixth, M. emarginatus, is stated 

 to have occurred once (see page 189). Other European 

 species are M. capaccini of Bonaparte, a bluish-grey bat, with 

 narrow, hairy, interfemoral membrane and elongated backward 

 pointing, falcate tragus ; M. dasycneme of Boie (see page 157) ; 

 and the Mediterranean M. oxygnatJms (Monticelli). 



The generic characters are slender, delicate form, long tail, 

 hairy face, narrow ear, and tapering, straight, or recurved 

 tragus, combined with variable size. 



The muzzle is long, the forehead not prominent, the face 

 hairy, the glandular prominences being much less developed 

 than in Nyctalus, Pipistirlhis, or Vespertilio, and scarcely add- 



