70 MAMMALIA. 



lated below; the tail involved in the membrane. This subgenus is the 

 most numerous of the whole, its species being found in every part of the 

 world. France alone has six or seven. 



The tragus of some is shaped like an awl, and to this division belongs 

 the most commonly known species. 



Vesp. murinus, L. ; V. myotis, Kuhl, Buff. VIII. xvi. (The 

 Common Bat). Oblong ears, the length of the head; hair brown; 

 maronne above, bright grey beneath ; the young of an ashy grey. 



Some other smaller but neighbouring species have lately been ob- 

 served in Europe*. 



In others again the tragus is angular, such as the 



Vesp. serotinus, L. ; Buff. VIII. xviii, 2. (The Serotine Bat). 

 A deep maronne ; wings and ears blackish ; the conch triangular and 

 shorter than the head. The female is paler than the male. Found 

 under the roofs of churches, and of other little frequented edifices, 

 &c.t. 



A third kind has a crescent shaped tragus. 



V. noctula, L. ; Buff. VIII. xviii, 1 ; V. proter us, 'Kuhl; V.la- 

 siopterus, Schreb., 58, B. (The Noctule Bat). Fawn coloured; 

 ears triangular, shorter than the head ; tragus rounded, a little larger 

 than the preceding. Found in the hollows of old trees, &c. 



V. pipistrellus, Gm. ; Buff. VIII. xix, 1. (The Pipistrille). The 

 smallest one in France ; a blackish brown ; ears triangular J. 



M. GeofFroy separates still further from the Vespertilio, the 



Plecotus, Geoff. 



Oreillards, whose ears are larger than the head, and are united to each 

 other on the cranium, as in Megaderma, the Rhinopomes, &c. ; the tragus 

 large and lanceolate — and there is an operculum on their auditory aper- 

 ture. 



The common species — Vesp. auritus, /L. ; Buff. VIII. xvii, 1. 

 (The Long-eared Bat). Still more abundant in France than the Bat. 

 Its ears are nearly as large as the rest of the body. It lives in 

 houses, kitchens, &c. There is also another discovered by Dau- 

 benton — (the Barbastelle) — Vesp. harhastellus, Gm., Buff, VIII. 

 19, 2. Brown, with much smaller earsS. 



* The V. Bechsteinii, Leisler, Cliauves. d'Allem., pi. 22. — The V. mystacinus, lb. 

 18.— r. Daiibentoni, Leisler, Kuhl, pi. xxv, 2.—V. Nattereri, Kuhl, pi. 23, &c.— Add 

 foreign species, V. emarginatus, Geoff. Ann. Mus. VIII. pi. 46. — F. pictus, L. or the 

 Kirivoula of Java, Seb. I. pi. 56, f. 23.—F.poltjthrix, Isid. Geoff. Ann. des So. Nat. 

 III. p. 440.— r. levis, Id. ib. &c. 



t Add F. caroUnensis, Geoff. Ann. Mus. VIII. pi. 47. \_See Append. I. of Am. Ed.'\ 



X Add the Fespertilio of Kuhl, {F. Kuhlii, Natterer), Kuhl, Chauves. d'Allem. 

 p. 55. 



§ Add the Plec. timoriensis, Geoflf. — PI. velatus, Isid. Geoff. — PL maugei, Desm. — 

 Plec. cornutus, Fab. — Fesp. megaloiis, Rafin. [See Append. II. of Am. Ed.] 



N. B. — As our plan permits us to class those animals only whose characters we 

 have ascertained either from personal observation or from very complete descriptions 

 and figures, we have been compelled to omit several of the genera of MM. Leach, 



