82 The Natural History 



LETTER XXXVI 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQUIRE 



Sept. 1771. 



Dear Sir, 

 The summer through I have seen but t\YO of that large 

 species of bat which I call vespertilb aliivolans^ from its 

 manner of feeding high in the air : I procured one of 

 them, and found it to be a male ; and made no doubt, 

 as they accompanied together, that the other was a 

 female : but, happening in an evening or two to procure 

 the other likewise, I was somewhat disappointed, when it 

 appeared to be also of the same sex. This circumstance, 

 and the great scarcity of this sort, at least in these parts, 

 occasions some suspicions in my mind whether it is 

 really a species, or whether it may not be the male part 

 of the more known species, one of which may supply 

 many females ; as is known to be the case in sheep, and 

 some other quadrupeds. But this doubt can only be 

 cleared by a farther examination, and some attention to 

 the sex, of more specimens : all that I know at present 

 is, that my two were amply furnished with the parts of 

 generation much resembling those of a boar. 



In the extent of their wings they measured fourteen 

 inches and an half : and four inches and an half from 

 the nose to the tip of the tail : their heads were large, 

 their nostrils bilobated, their shoulders broad and 

 muscular ; and their whole bodies fleshy and plump. 

 Nothing could be more sleek and soft than their fur, 

 which was of a bright chestnut colour ; their maws were 

 full of food, but so macerated that the quality could not 

 be distinguished; their livers, kidneys, and hearts, were 

 large, and their bowels covered with fat. They weighed 

 each, when entire, full one ounce and one drachm. 

 Within the ear there was somewhat of a peculiar structure 

 that I did not understand perfectly ; but refer it to the 



