Mr. R. F. Tomes on the genus Miniopteris. 151 



them the results are anything but satisfactory. And it is scarcely 

 necessary to go beyond the European list to meet with an unbroken 

 scries from the one to the other. Under these circumstances, any 

 character which could be found sufficiently marked to show a differ- 

 ence apart from that of degree, howeyer"' small it might be, would 

 be yaluable as a means of classification. 



In default of any single character which might be considered suf- 

 ficient for this purpose, a certain combination of characters, not in 

 themselyes sufficiently distinctiye taken separately, might neyerthe- 

 less, if taken coUectiyely, answer the desired end'; and further, the 

 decision would be strengthened if we were to find that these cha- 

 racters were so precisely uniform in degree, as to afford no specific 

 differences beyond those of the size of the animal and the quality and 

 colour of the fur. 



Such is literally the case vyith the group which I haye now to 

 consider. _ Although inhabiting widely separated localities— Europe, 

 Asia, Africa and Australia, —its seyeral members scarcely exhibit any 

 greater differences than those above noted, yiz. colour and size. 



The genus Miniopteris was first proposed by Prince C. L. Bona- 

 parte in his fine work on the Fauna of Italy, for a species which was 

 there described as Miniopteris Ursinii, being regarded as new. It has 

 however been subsequently shown by MM. Keyserling and Blasius, 

 that this species is identical with the one described a long time pre- 

 viously by Natterer, in Kuhl's 'Memoir on the Bats oflSermany,' 

 under the name of Vespertilio Schreibersii. The specific name 

 given by Natterer is the one now generally admitted, whilst the ge- 

 neric one given by Prince C. L. Bonaparte is refused or adopted 

 according to the opinion respecting the generic distinctions. 



In the following monograph the generic peculiarities will first be 

 pointed out ; and this will be followed by a detailed description of 

 the earliest-described and best-known species — the European one, 

 after which the points of dissimilarity in the other species will be 

 adverted to *. 



Genus Miniopteris, Bonap. — Trilatitius, Gray (in part). 



Top of the head much elevated ; face very short, concave in its 

 longitudinal direction ; muzzle obtuse, not much depressed ; nostrils 

 near together, with their upper and inner margins slightly project- 

 ing, the space between these projecting parts being slightly emar- 

 ginate. This notch between the nostrils does not, however, pass 

 downward through the upper lip, which is entire and rather pro- 

 minent. The nostrils themselves are crescent-shaped and open sub- 

 laterally. From the outer side of each is a vertical notch or groove 

 passing through the lip, but leaving its central portion entire and 



* I am aware that some zoologists regard tlie Asiatic aiul African representa- 

 tives of the genus as referable to the European one, an opinion in which I par- 

 tially concur. The African one, Vespertilio dasythrix of Tcmminck, is I believe 

 identical with Miniopteris Schreibersii ; but the Asiatic ones occurring in the 

 islands of the Indian Archipelago and in Australia, 1 believe to be perfectly 

 distinct species. 



11* 



