1918 | Grinnell: A Synopsis of the Bats of California 239 
which he has designed, in all parts of the country where mosquitoes 
are prevalent. He points out that in time the cost of these roosts 
is defrayed through the value of the guano which may be collected 
for fertilizer and which has, according to statements submitted by 
him, a commercial value of about thirty dollars per ton. 
It is interesting to note that in at least one city of the United 
States, San Antonio, Texas, bats are now protected by law. This city, 
in June, 1914, passed an ordinance to prohibit the destruction of bats 
within the city limits, and preseribed that anyone violating the pro- 
visions of the ordinance should be fined not less than five dollars, or 
more than two hundred dollars, for each bat so killed. 
nay Nee f 
a b c d 
Fig. A. Portion of a hair from the dorsum of Nyctinomus mexicanus, no. 19092. 
X 288. 
Fig. B. Portion of a hair from the dorsum of Humops californicus, no, 4326. 
X 288. 
Fig. C. Portion of a hair from the dorsum of Nycteris cinerea, no. 20778. 
X 288. 
Fig. D. Portion of a hair from the dorsum of Myotis longicrus interior, no, 17790. 
X 288. 
The earlest published record which | have found of the protection 
of bats because of their usefulness to man is that of J. K. Townsend 
(1839, p. 325), who says that the great-eared bat (Corynorhinus) 
Inhabits the Columbia river district [Washington], rather common. Frequents 
the store houses attached to the forts, seldom emerging from them even at night. 
This, and a species of Verpertilio [sic], (V. subulatus,) which is even more 
numerous, are protected by the gentlemen of the Hudson’s Bay Company, for 
their services in destroying the dermestes which abound in their fur establish- 
ments. 
