FAMILY VESPERTILIONIDjE. 
5 
ORDER III. CARNIVORA. 
Furnished with sharp and strong claws. Three kinds of teeth, differing considerably from 
each other. Living exclusively on animal substances, and the more exclusively so as their 
teeth are furnished with acute points. No thumbs on the fore feet opposable to the other 
fingers. 
This order embraces animals exceedingly varied in form, such as the Bat and Seal, Shrew- 
moles, and Bears. It represents the Order Ferae of Linneus, and a portion of his Primates. 
In this State, we have the representatives of eight families. 
FAMILY I. VESPERTILION1DVE. 
Anterior fingers excessively prolonged; the anterior and posterior extremities connected by 
a more or less naked expansion of the skin, adapted to flight. Tivo pectoral mammae. 
Penis external, pendulous. Incisors varying in number. Summits of the cheek teeth 
ending in sharp points. Prey upon the wing. Hybernate. 
This is a natural and very numerous group, comprising more than one hundred and fifty 
species, distributed over the globe. These are arranged by modern systematic writers under 
twenty-seven genera, and this has been subsequently carried to forty-eight genera. Their 
habits are nocturnal, feeding almost exclusively upon winged insects. Some species, however, 
are occasionally seen flying about in open daylight. We have noticed five species in the 
State of New-York, all included under one genus. 
GENUS VESPERTILIO. Linneus. 
Incisors two to four above and six beneath; anterior cheek teeth simple conic; the posterior 
with sharp points. No nasal appendages; the ears lateral and distinct. The index finger 
of one joint. Tail rarely exceeding the interfemoral membrane. 
Obs. In this latitude, the Bat, on the approach of winter, retreats to cavities in trees, or to 
caverns, and becomes perfectly torpid. They bring forth from one to three at a birth, in the 
months of June and July. Period of gestation unknown. 
