FAMILY VESPERTILIONID^. 



ORDER III. CARNIVORA. 



Furnished with sharp and strong claws. Three kinds of teeth, differing considerably from 

 each other. Living exclusively on animal substances, and the more exclusively so as their 

 teeth are furnished with acute points. No thumbs on the fore feet opposable to the other 

 fingers. 



This order embraces animals exceedingly varied in form, such as the Bat and Seal, Shrew- 

 moles, and Bears. It represents the Order FeroR of Linneus, and a portion of his Primates. 

 In this State, we have the representatives of eight families. 



FAMILY I. VESPERTILIONID^. 



Anterior fingers excessively prolonged; the anterior and posterior extremities connected by 

 a more or less naked expansion of the skin, adapted to flight. Two pectoral mammae. 

 Penis external, pendulous. Incisors varying in number. Summits of the cheek teeth 

 ending in sharp points. Prey upon the wing. Hybernate. 



This is a natural and very numerous group, comprising more than one hundred and fifty 

 species, distributed over the globe. These are arranged by modern systematic writers under 

 twenty-seven genera, and this has been subsequently carried to forty-eight genera. Their 

 habits are nocturnal, feeding almost exclusively upon winged insects. Some species, however, 

 are occasionally seen flying about in open daylight. We have noticed five species in the 

 State of New- York, all included under one genus. 



GENUS VESPERTILIO. Linneus. 



Incisors two to four above and six beneath ; anterior cheek teeth simple conic ; the posterior 

 with sharp points. No nasal appendages ; the ears lateral and distinct. The index finger 

 of one joint. Tail rarely exceeding the interfemoral membrane. 



Obs. In this latitude, the Bat, on the approach of winter, retreats to cavities in trees, or to 

 caverns, and becomes perfectly torpid. They bring forth from one to three at a birth, in the 

 months of June and July. Period of gestation unknown. 



