732 CLASS xvii. 



Gape of mouth very large. Index with a single osseous phalanx 

 only, or with two. 



Family XLI. Nycterina. (Characters of the section those of 

 the single family also.) 



t Bats with nose simple. (Gymnorhina WAGNER.) 



Vespertilio GEOFFR. (and Plecotus ejusd., spec, of Vespertilio 



4 1 1 



L.). Incisor teeth ^, the upper middle remote, canines - -, simple, 



4_4 5-5 5-5 6-6 

 strong ; molars g -g , g ^ , g g, or ^ g . Tragus of ear 



elongate, erect, resembling an opercle. Tail connate with inter- 

 femoral membrane. (Three true molars above and below, the rest 

 of the molar teeth premolars.) 



LINNAEUS, in the last edition of the Systema natures, enumerated only six 

 species in his genus Vespertilio, of which the last two, V. auritus and muri- 

 nus, alone find a place in this genus as limited by later writers. These two 

 were the only European species of chiropters recorded by him. DAUBEN- 

 TON, however, had already discovered various new European species (Mem. 

 deVAcad. des Sc. 1759, BUFF. Hist. nat. vm. pp. 126 132). Subsequent 

 writers have added several, and the number of exotic species, to be here 

 arranged, is very remarkable, so that now scarcely fewer than 100 species 

 are counted in the genus. Compare on this genus : H. KUHL Die deutschen 

 Fledermause, Hanau, 1817, 4to (printed separately from the Annalen der 

 Wetterau-Gesettsch. iv.), GEOFFROY SAINT-HILAIRE Mem. sur le genre et 

 les espdces de Vespertiiion, Ann. du Mus. viu. pp. 187 205, F. CUVIER 

 Nouv. Ann. du Mus. I. pp. i 21, PL i, 2, TEMMINCK Monogr. de Mam- 

 mat. n. pp. 161 262, KOLENATI Beitrdge zur Naturgesch. der Europaischen 

 Chiroptera; Mit 6 lithogr. Tafeln, 8vo, Dresden, 1857. For the distin- 

 guishing of the European species the accurate descriptions and the sub- 

 genera given by KEYSERLING and BLASIUS are of service. 



Vesperugo BLAS. and KEYSERL. (External margin of ears produced 

 forwards under the tragus.) Sp. Vespertilio serotinus DAUBENT., BUFF. 

 vm. PL 1 8, fig. 2, SCHREB. Saugth. Tab. 53; one of the most common 

 species ; the tip of the tail extends free from the membrane at the posterior 

 extremity of the body. Vespertilio pipistrellus DAUBENT., BUFF. 1. 1. PI. 

 19, fig. i, SCHREB. Saugth. Tab. 54; the smallest indigenous species ; see a 

 figure of the head in GUER. Iconogr., Mamm. PL 9, fig. 2 ; Vespertilio 

 noctula DAUBENT., Vesp. lasiopterus SCHREB., Vespertilio proterus KUHL, 

 SCHREB. Saugth. Tab. 44, 58; the under surface of the wing-membrane 

 along the arms much haired ; one of the commonest species in towns and 

 in the country; of European species this has the longest and narrowest 

 wings, it flies very high and with great celerity, sometimes even before 

 sunset. 



