On the Nomenclature of some European Bats. 379 
of brain-case 22; palate length 22:5, breadth between outer 
corners of p* 16; greatest horizontal diameter of p* 5*1, of 
m° 3°4., 
flab. Hargaisa, Somaliland, alt. 1500 m. 
Lype collected by Dr. A. K. Atkinson, Oct. 26, 1896. 
Native name “ Shog Shog.” 
XLVI.— The Nomenclature of some European Bats. 
By Gerrit 8. MILLER, Jr. 
WHILE working out the synonymy of the North-American 
Vespertilionide I have found that some glaring errors now 
pass current in the nomenclature of several European bats. 
These may be most conveniently discussed under three 
headings: (I.) the genera Vespertilio and Myotis, (II.) the 
genera Pipistrellus and Pterygistes, and (III.) the genus 
Barbastella. 
I. The Genera Vespertilio and Myotis. 
The generic name Vespertilio has long been applied to the 
38-toothed members of the family Vespertilionide, but in 
accordance with one of the fundamental laws of nomen- 
clature—that when a composite genus is subdivided its name 
can never be transferred to a group not included in the 
original assemblage—this use of the name is inadmissible. 
The genus Vespertilio, Linneeus (‘Systema Nature,’ i. ed. x. 
pp. 31-82, 1758), included seven species—vampyrus, spectrum, 
persprcillatus, spasma, leporinus, auritus, and murinus. Only 
two of these, aurdtus and murinus, are Kuropean. Since it 
is clear that a non-exotic species should in such a case be 
made the type of the genus, on tle ground that in this way 
the original meaning of the author will be most closely 
retained, one of these two must be selected. The species 
auritus was removed to the genus Plecotus by Geoffroy in 
1818 (Deser. de ? Egypte, Mammif. p. 112). Thus murtnus 
is left as the type of the genus Vespertilio. ‘True Vespertilio 
murinus, however, is a totally different animal from the one 
commonly known by that name. ‘To understand the matter 
fully it is necessary to refer to the two editions of the ‘ Fauna 
Suecica,’ where Linnzeus describes the animal in more detail 
than in the ‘Systema Nature.’ In the first edition he men- 
tions only one bat, the ‘ Liiderlapp,” “ Flidermus,” or ‘ Natt- 
blacka.” This he calls “Vespertilio caudatus, nuso oreque 
simplict”” (No. 18, p. 7, 1746). In the second edition two 
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