XVI THE LONG-EARED AND OTHER BATS 529 
The genus Vespertilio contains some forty-five species, and is 
world-wide in range. It has one more premolar in the upper 
jaw than has Vesperugo. There are no less than six British 
species, of which V. murinus is the largest species of Bat recorded 
from this country, but is not quite certainly indigenous. 
Plecotus has very long ears. The dentition is]? C+ Pm 2 M 3. 
The tragus is very large. There are but two or possibly three 
species, of which one is North American, and the other is the 
Long-eared Bat, P. auritus, of this country, but ranging as far as 
India. The shrill voice, inaudible to some ears, of this Bat has 
been heard of by everybody. 
Synotus includes the British Barbastelle, S. barbastelius, as 
well as an Eastern form. It differs from the last genus principally 
by the loss of a lower premolar. The ears, too, are not so large. 
Otonycteris, Nyctophilus, and Antrozous are allied genera; the 
last is Californian, the others Old-World forms. 
Kerivoula (or Cerivoula) has a long, pointed, narrow tragus. 
The tail is as long as or longer than the head and body. The 
dentition is as in Vespertilio ; but the upper incisors are parallel 
instead of divergent as in that genus. The brilliantly-coloured 
K. picta is, on account of this very fact, the best-known species. 
The name Kerivoula, a corruption of the Cinghalese “ Kehel vulha,” 
signifies plantain bat. This Bat has been described as looking, 
when disturbed in the daytime, more like a huge butterfly than a 
Bat, which is naturally associated with sombre hues. Other 
species occur in the Oriental, Australian, and Ethiopian regions. 
Miniopterus has a premolar less in the upper jaw; it has a 
long tail as in the last genus. One species, Jf scheibersi, has 
almost the widest range of any Bat, it being found from South 
Europe to Africa, Asia, Madagascar, and Australia. 
Natalus is an allied form from Tropical America and the West 
Indies. It is chiefly to be separated from Kerivoula by the short 
tragus to the ear. 
Thyroptera is also South American. It is distinguished by 
the curious sucker-like discs upon the thumb and foot. These 
“resemble in miniature the sucking cups of cuttle-fishes.” The 
Madagascar genus, Myxopoda, with but one species, has also an 
adhesive but horse-shoe-shaped pad upon the thumb and foot. 
Scotophilus has shortish ears with a tapering tragus. The tail 
is shorter than the head and body, and is nearly contained within 
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