TYPICAL BATS. 49 



V. THE MOUSE- COLOURED BAT. VESPERTILIO MURINUS. 



Vespertilio mtirinus, Linn., Syst. Nat. ed. 12, vol. i. p. 47 

 (1766; in parte) ; Bell, British Quadrupeds 2nd ed. p. 48 

 (1874); Dobson, Cat. Chiroptera Brit. Mus. p. 309 

 (1878). 



Vespertilio niyotis^ Kubl, Deutsch. Fledcrm. p. 36 (18 17). 

 Vesperiilio blythii, Tomes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857 p. 53. 

 Vespertilio africaims^ Dobson, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4 

 vol. xvi. p. 260 (1875); id. Cat. Chiroptera Brit. Mus. 

 p. 310 (1878). 

 Characters. — Although, as already mentioned, the Mouse- 

 coloured Bat closely resembles the preceding species in general 

 external characters, it belongs to a sub-group distinguished by 

 having the earlet or tragus straight, and sharply or bluntly 

 pointed, instead of being sharply pointed and curving out- 

 wards. The following are the essential characteristics of the 

 present species : — 



Crown of head slightly elevated ; muzzle blunt ; a somewhat 

 swollen area between the eye and the nostril, and the sides of 

 the face and the end of the upper surface of the nose nearly 

 naked, although the upper lip carries some long hairs. Ears 

 large, generally reaching, when laid forwards, just beyond the 

 end of the muzzle; their tips bluntly pointed; the inner 

 margin moderately convex to the base, where it is joined at a 

 right angle to the basal lobe ; outer margin concave below the 

 tip, with a shallow notch opposite the base of the earlet, suc- 

 ceeded by a convex lobe, terminating opposite the base of the 

 inner margin. Earlet of moderate length, narrowed above, and 

 sub-acutely pointed, with the inner margin more or less nearly 

 straight, and the outer with a small convex basal lobe, then con- 

 vex for about half its length, and finally straight. Wings arising 

 from the metatarsus ; only the extreme tip of the tail projecting 

 beyond the edge of the membrane connecting the hind legs, 

 5 ^ 



