Mr. W. T. Blanford on new Mammalia. 309 



names, where such did not exist before. We do not for a 

 moment deny that in many instances these types can be shown 

 to pass into others by regular and almost imperceptible grada- 

 tions, and that possibly all of them may, some day, be shown 

 to be similarly connected with one another. Nor are we pre- 

 pared to maintain that all these types, even where they have 

 by common consent been regarded as of generic value, are so 

 distinctively separated from others as to deserve the name of 

 " genera," in the ordinary acceptation of this term. We have 

 had, however, to face a difficulty which will increasingly meet 

 the worker in any department of Invertebrate Palaeontology ; 

 and we think that this is, in the meanwhile, the best practical 

 solution of it. Even if a better solution of the difficulty be 

 ultimately found, no retardation or impediment to the progress 

 of science in this department will result from our present 

 adoption of this course. No type will be described by us 

 which is not at the same time accurately figured ; and the 

 facts thus recorded will remain unchanged, and will retain their 

 value, whatever alteration may take place in our method of 

 interpreting them. 



[To be continued.] 



XL. — Descriptions of new Mammalia from Persia and Balu- 

 chistan. By W. T. Blanford, F.R.S. 



The following descriptions have been in print for more than 

 a year ; but, owing to unforeseen delays, the work on Persian 

 zoology in which they appear has not yet been published, and 

 it is, I hear, likely that some time must elapse before it will 

 be ready. Under these circumstances it appears to me desirable 

 to describe the species of Mammalia supposed to be new, so as 

 to avoid confusion of synonymy from the delay. 



1. Vespertilio desertorum 7 Dobson, MS. 



V. fusco-fulvus ; auribus magnis, ad apices rotundatis, margine 

 exteriore juxta apicem emarginata, inde ad basin tragi recta, 

 concha punctis glandularibus confertini instructa ; trago longo, 

 angusto, acuto, margine interiore convexiuscula, exteriore cou- 

 cava ; digitis tertio quartoque fere aequalibus ; vertebra ultima 

 caudae membranam excedente ; alis a basi digitorum pedum ori- 

 entibus. 



Long, corporis cum capite 2*1, caudae l - 65, auris 0-65, tragi 0*35, 

 radii 1-65, tibia? 0*8 poll. Angl. 



Hah. ad Jalk, Baluchistan. 



