486 DR. G. E. DOBSON ON MYSTAC1NA TUBERCULATA. [June 6, 



The distinctions upon which Dr. v. Haast relies are chiefly the 

 result of the comparison of the skull with a small figure of 31. lay- 

 ardi quite inadequate for the purpose, and disappear on more rigid 

 examination. For instance, the proportion of the height to the 

 length of the lower jaw, one of Dr. v. Haast's most telling cha- 

 racters, is really identical, instead of being so widely different as 

 supposed. The habitats of the two specimens, instead of being a 

 reason for separating, would rather, in my opinion, be one for uniting 

 them, as there can be no possible barrier for a Cetacean between 

 the seas of the Cape and those of New Zealand. I am therefore un- 

 able, upon the evidence before us, to accept Mesoplodon floweri as a 

 well-established species. The great interest of the present commu- 

 nication is that it contains a description of the entire skeleton, and 

 shows that it presents an exceedingly close resemblance to the well- 

 known Northern form, 31. sowerbiensis. 



5. On Mystacina tuberculoid. 

 By G. E. Dobson, M.A., M.B., F.L.S., &c. 



[Eeceived May 13, 1876.] 



There are some important points in the external structure of that 

 most remarkable species of Bat, Mystacina tuberculata of New Zea- 

 land, which have not yet been noticed, although one writer has oc- 

 cupied four closely printed pages of an octavo book in describing it. 



In a paper by Mr. R. F. Tomes, in our 'Proceedings' for 1857, 

 p. 139, a coloured lithograph of this species is given, showing the very 

 peculiar structure of a portion of the wing- and interfemoral membrane 

 near the body ; and in the text accompanying it are the following re- 

 marks : — " The portions of membrane contiguous to the forearm, the 

 sides of the body, and the tibia are very thick and leathery, with nu- 

 merous deep wrinkles ; and the basal half of the interfemoral mem- 

 brane (as far as to where the tail becomes free) possesses the same 

 peculiarity. The wrinkles, in many places, cross the legs and forearms, 

 but they are only observable on the upper surfaces of the membranes 

 and limbs. This singular part of the cutaneous system is marked by a 

 regular and decided outline, and can scarcely be said at any place to 

 graduate into the smooth (and very thin) membrane of the wings. 

 Its extent is pretty well indicated by the hairy portions of the mem- 

 branes in the genus Lasiurus, excepting that it only occupies one half 

 of the interfemoral membrane." 



No conjectures are hazarded as to the use of this peculiarly thick- 

 ened and differently coloured portion of membrane, which occurs in 

 this species alone. 



I find that this thickened portion of the wing-membrane is analo- 

 gous to the thickened portion of the anterior wings in Hemiptera 

 and to the elytra of the Coleoptera. 



Among the many peculiarities of structure presented by 31. tuber- 



