704 CAPT. T. HUTTON ON HIMALAYAN BATS. [June 4, 



The colour is a deep blackish brown, tipped with hoary ; carpus 

 1-j-^ in. ; tibia Min. ; from nose to tail 2§ in. ; tail from vent 1 J in. ; 

 total length 4| in. ; ear | in. ; heel-bone f in. ; expanse of wings, 

 1 1 in. Tragus slightly bending outwards, half the length of the 

 ear, subtriangular, base broad, narrowing upwards to the summit, 

 which is rounded. 



Fleming places this Bat in the genus Plecotus, on account of the 

 approximation of the ears, which, he says, are " united at their inner 

 edges above the eyes." The junction is merely at the base, on aline 

 with the eyes, and is not an actual union, but simply a contact of the 

 inner basal edges. In his measurement the expanse agrees with 

 mine, but the length is half an inch less ; this doubtless proceeds from 

 his having had dried skins only. 



This is a common species during the whole of the summer months ; 

 but as it is never seen in the winter, I conclude that it hibernates in 

 its retreat. It comes forth rather late in the evening, and after the 

 twilight has deepened into the first shades of night. They appear 

 to be very inconstant visitors, as for two years they occupied a hole 

 in the roof of an upper story, but made such a litter on the floor 

 that it was determined to dislodge them. The first year they re- 

 mained unmolested, but in the second year several of them were 

 caught and preserved ; in the third year not one was visible, nor 

 did they return again. They were in dozens for those two years. 



Mr. Blyth, in his ' Catalogue of Mammalia in the Museum of the 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal,' falls into a curious error in regard to Nyc- 

 tophilus geoffroyi, which he says he received from Captain F. Hutton, 

 from Masuri, while yet he states the genus to be Australian. But I 

 have no specimen by me, nor do I know that I ever saw one. In 

 1844, the year in which he says he received it, I was certainly the 

 only Captain Hutton at Musooree, and my initial is not F., but T. 

 Another very frequent error of the same writer consists in his placing 

 the Tyne range of hills to the north of Simla, instead of immediately 

 at the back of Musooree, from which it is separated only by a broad, 

 deep, trough-like valley. 



If the species were really received from me, it must have been 

 procured north of the Tyne range, and sent down to Calcutta mixed 

 up with specimens of Barbastellus communis. 



Genus Plecotus (Geoffr.). 



Generic characters. — Ears very large, erect, and oblong ovate, 

 united at the base over the forehead ; incisors g, molars ^-g. 



14. Plecotus auritus. (The Long-eared Bat.) 



Vespertilio minor, Brisson, Quad. 226. 



Vesp. auritus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ; Geoff. An. Mus. ; Kuhl, Deutsch. 

 Flederm. ; Desmar, Mam. ; Jenyns, Brit. Vert. 



Plecotus auritus, Geoff.; Gray, Zool. Journ. ; Flem. Brit. An. 

 L 'Oreillard, Daub. Mem. Acad. ; Buffon. 

 Long-eared Bat, Penn. Brit. Quad. 



