238 Mr. 0. Thomas on 



2. Lasiurus borealis* salince, sub^p. n. 



$ and 4 young f. 



Similar in fi;eneral characters to the other races of L. bore,aUs^ 

 but with the ears short and aj)|)arently as in L. h. teliotis, 

 and with duller and less rufous coloration. The feet appear 

 to be rather longer than usual (see measurements). 



Ears very short, their outer basal lobe reduced almost to 

 nil, and without any anterior notch or angle at its insertion. 

 Fur of wings and interfemoral membranes very s|)arse and 

 thin, but its distribution apparently as usual ; patch on base 

 of thumb and hairs of back of foot thicker than the rest. 



General colour of body (in spirit) dull grizzled greyish, 

 almost without rufous, the only specimen at all like it tliat I 

 have seen being one of L. semotuSj H. AH., from Hawaii. 

 Individual hairs blackish at base, then buffy whitish, then 

 dark, with the extreme tips white. A slight tendency 

 towards rufous is perceptible on the interfemoral hairs, and 

 those on the back of the tVet are bright rufous. Wing- 

 membranes dark brown, lighter along the edges of the inter- 

 digital spaces. 



Dimensions of the type (measured in spirit) : — 



Forearm 42 millim. 



* I can bv no means accept Dr. Allen's recent alteration of my identi- 

 fication of A/.ara's " Cbauve-Soiiris septieme " from the loral race of 

 Zasiunis cinereus to that of L. borealis, a determination I came to after 

 most carefully weighing the claims of the three Paraguayan Lasiiiri to 

 this doubtful honour. I freely grant that the " envergure " given by 

 Azara (313 millim.) is a good deal belo\v the corresponding dimension in 

 fresh and well-stretched specimens of i. cincrens ; but if Azara's specimens 

 were a little dry and stiftj or immature, the discrepancy would ea.sily be 

 made up, while nothing will give any specimen of L. horealis an ear- 

 length of lo millim. The trunk and tail-lengths may be considered to 

 Jit either. Thus one of Mr. Dinelli's Tucuman specimens of cj«<'r<'j/s is 

 labelled as mea.-^uring in the flesh : head and body 70 millim. ; tail 48; 

 ear 14'-"3 — a siitficieiitly close correspondence with Aziira'.s 02, .oO, and 15 

 millim. I'ut the primary point is the cidoration. With such conspicu- 

 ously dirterent and brilliantly coloured bats as L. ciiiereus and horealis 

 the first thing that would .strike any, and especialh* any non-technical, 

 observer is the hoary or whitish-washed colour of ciiiereus and the 

 brilliant rufous o{ borealis. Now Azara says " le poil e.st .... d'un brun 

 tres-blanchatre,'' an expression perfectly a])plicable to cinercus, hopelessly 

 at variance with the coloration of eitlier horealis or ei/a. 



The coldur of the body and the size of the ear appear therefore to mo 

 to settle the question, and consequently I still consider Cieotl'roy's name 

 villosissimus to be applicable to the local furui of the " tres-blanchatre " 

 LMsiurnx cinereus. 



t From the method of labelling Mr. Simons would appear to liavo 

 thought that the four young ones were the offspring of the single female. 

 Such an occurrence as four young in n bat is, I believe, unheard of, and I 

 shall hope later to publish fartiier details on the subject. 



