PLECOTUS. 29' 



B. Crown of head greatly raised above face-line; 

 outer margin of ear terminating close to angle 

 of mouth ; second or terminal phalanx of 

 third or longest finger more than treble the 

 length of first phalanx Miniopterus. 



Genus PLECOTUS, Geoffr. (1813). 



Ears very large, the inner margins united, outer margin of 

 each terminating just behind the angle of the mouth ; tragus 

 large, tapering. Nostrils elongate, narrow, crescentic, situated 

 at the extremity of the muzzle, the upper surface of which is 

 hairy, flat and depressed in the middle, but swollen at the sides, 

 which bulge above the central depression, and sometimes cover it 

 just behind the nostrils. Muzzle not grooved in front below the 

 nostrils. 



Dentition : i. ?^, c. ^, pm, |^, m. ^. Upper incisors widely 

 separated in the middle and directed obliquely inwards, the inner 

 are bifid, the inner cusp of each considerably longer than the 

 outer, and this again is larger and longer than the small simple 

 unicuspidate outer incisor ; canines without accessory cusps ; first 

 upper premolar small, but distinctly seen from the outside, second 

 premolar large. Of the lower premolars the third is the largest 

 and the second the smallest. 



The only Palsearctic species, which has an extensive range, is 

 found in the Himalayas. 



171. Plecotus anritus. The lotuj-eared Bat. 



Vespertilio auritus, L. Syst. Nat. i, p. 47 (17G6). 



Plecotus homochrous, Hodr/son, J. A. S. B. xvi, p. 895. 



Plecotus auritus, Bhith, Cat. p. 35 ; Jerdon, Mam. p. 47 ; Sutton, 



P. Z. S. 1872, p. 704 ; Dohson, 3Ion. As. Chir. p. 84 ; id. Cat. Chir. 



B. M. p. 178; Anderson, Cat. p. 123; Scully, P. Z. S. 1881, 



p. 199. 



Ears enormous, not much shorter than the head and body together, 

 ovate, the tips broadly rounded. Inner margins joined near the 

 base, just above the junction a prominent rounded lobe projects 

 from each. 



AVings from the base of the toes ; feet slender. Tail as long as 

 the head and body ; the tip exserted. Fur soft. 



Colour brown, generally fawn-colour or light brown above, whitish 

 below. The basal half or two-thirds of the fur, above and below, 

 is nearly black. Some specimens are dark throughout, owing to 

 the wearing away of the paler lips to the hairs ; such a specimen 

 is the type of Hodgson's P. homocJu-ous. 



Dimensions of a female from near Mussoorie : head and body 

 1-7 inches, tail 1*7, ear from crown 1-35, tragus (inner margin) 



