THE ZOOLOGIST. 



THIRD SERIES. 



Vol. XII.] MAY, 1888. [No. 137. 



THE WHISKERED BAT, VESPERTILIO MYST ACINUS. 



By the Editor. 



Plate IT. 



Although this small Bat has a wide geographical range in 

 Europe, extending from Eussia to Ireland, and from Finland to 

 the Alps, it remains hut imperfectly known ; at all events, in 

 the British Islands, where comparatively few instances of its 

 occurrence have been recorded. 



Referring to our "Remarks on British Bats" (Zool. 1887, 

 pp. 161 — 171), wherein diagnoses are given of the genera, it will 

 be seen that the Whiskered Bat belongs to the genus Vespertilio. 

 It is the Vespertilio mystacinus of Leisler, and derives its specific 

 name from the fringe of fine straight hairs which clothe the 

 upper lip. It is thus carefully described by Dr. G. E. Dobson, 

 whose ' Catalogue of Bats in the British Museum,' and ' Mono- 

 graph of the Asiatic Chiroptera' afford the latest as well as the most 

 authoritative information upon this order of the Mammalia : — 



" Muzzle narrow ; skull vaulted, not much elevated above the 

 face line ; glandular prominences on the face small. Ears as 

 long as the head ; laid forwards the tips extend slightly beyond 

 the end of the nose ; internal basal lobe angular, the horizontal 

 margin forming, with the ascending anterior margin, a right 

 angle ; lower third of inner margin of the conch faintly convex, 

 upper third straight, tip rounded off; upper third of the outer 

 margin deeply concave, lower half abruptly convex, with a distinct 



ZOOLOGIST. — MAY, 1888. O 



