28 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



generally short and obtuse, with the outer margin more or less 

 convex, and the inner one either straight or concave. Muzzle 

 usually short, broad, and blunted, with prominent glandular 

 swellings between the eyes and nostrils, giving an abnormal 

 width to the face ; sides of hinder part of head and tip of 

 muzzle sparsely haired. Tail shorter than head and body ; a 

 small additional membranous expansion behind the spur on 

 the ankle, and the membrane connecting the hind-legs ter- 

 minating in a salient angle. Number of incisor teeth generally 

 as in the preceding genus ; but the upper pre-molars sometimes 

 reduced to a single pair, although there are always two pairs of 

 these teeth in the lower jaw. Wings generally arising from 

 the bases of the toes. 



The numerous species of this, the largest genus of the Order, 

 have a cosmopolitan distribution, except as regards the Polar 

 Regions ; but they are most numerous in the temperate and 

 sub-tropical parts of the Eastern Hemisphere. 



I. THE SEROTINE. VESPERUGO SEROTINUS. 



Vespertilio serotinus, Schreber, Saugethiere vol. i. p. 167 



(1775). 



Scotophilus serotinus, Gray, Mag. Zool. vol. ii. p. 497 (1838); 



Bell, British Quadrupeds, 2nd ed. p. 44 (1874). 

 Vesperugo serotinus^ Keyscrling and Blasius in Wiegmann's 



Archiv. fur Naturg. 1839 p. 312 (1840); Dobson, Cat. 



Chiroptera Brit. Mus. p. 191 (1878). 



Characters. Ears moderate, with broadly rounded tips, which, 

 when laid forwards, are nearer to the nostrils than to the eyes ; 

 their inner margins slightly convex, with a rounded basal lobe; 

 outer margins straight, or very slightly concave in the upper 

 half, then convex, slightly emarginate opposite the base of the 



