664 



CHIROPTERA 



PIG. 309. Side and 

 front views of the head 

 of Cerivoula hardwickei. 



and by the oval elongated ear and narrow attenuated tragus. In 



the British Isles this genus is represented by four species, viz. 



Bechstein's Bat ( V. bechsteini) ; the Eeddish-Gray Bat ( V. nattereri), 



of very local occurrence ; Daubenton's Bat ( V, daubentoni) ; and the 



Whiskered Bat (V. mystadnus). 



Cerivoula.^ This genus, which has the same dental formula 



as Vespertilio, is distinguished by the parallel upper incisors, 

 and the comparatively large size of the second 

 upper premolar. Some ten species have been 

 described from the Ethiopian and Oriental 

 regions, of which C. pida, from India and the 

 Indo-Malayan subregion, is the best-known, 

 being well characterised by its brilliantly 

 coloured orange fur and conspicuously marked 

 membranes, which are variegated with orange 

 and black. This genus includes the most deli- 

 cately formed and most truly insectivorous, 

 tropical, forest -haunting Bats, which appear to 

 stand as regards the species of Vespertilio in a 

 position similar to that occupied by Chalinolobus 

 with respect to Vesperugo. 



The Miniopterine division includes only two 



(Dobson, Monogr. ASM. cr enera an( j j s characterised by the great eleva- 



Chiropt.) 3 ,' , , , , * , > - . , 



tion of the crown of the head above the facial 

 line, and by the upper incisors being separated from the canine 

 and also in the middle line. 



Natalus. 2 This genus, while having the divisional characters 

 mentioned above, agrees in the dental formula and its general 

 external form with Cerivoula, from 

 which it is distinguished by the 

 short triangular tragus. It in- 

 cludes three species, restricted to 

 South and Central America and 

 the West Indies ; the head of N. 

 micropus being shown in Fig. 310. 



Miniopterus. 3 Dentition : i , 

 c T> P > * f ; total 36. In 

 addition to the difference in the 

 number of the teeth, this genus is 

 distinguished by the shortness of 

 the first phalanx of the middle finger and the great length of the 

 tail, which is wholly contained within the interfemoral membrane ; 

 it includes four species, restricted to the eastern hemisphere. Of 



1 Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. x. p. 258 (1842), Kcrivoula. 



2 Gray, Mag. Zool. Bat. vol. ii. p. 496 (1838). 



3 Bonaparte, Fauna Italica, fasc. xxi. (1837). 



Fie. 310. Head of Katahis microput. 

 (Dobson, Proc. Zool. Hoc. 1880.) 



X3. 



