ON OUR KNOWLEDGK OF THE CHIROPTERA, ETC. 1&3 



ditiou of the tragus in the dried skins then only known. The following- 

 are the measurements of one of these specimens : Length : head and body 

 2"-3:), tail 2"-25, head 0"-9, ear 1"-15, tragus 0"-3 X 0"-15, forearm l"-95, 

 thumb 0"-55, third finger (metacarpal l"-4, 1st ph. l"-0, 2nd ph. l"-2), 

 fifth finger (metacarp. l"-65, 1st ph. 0"-5.5, 2nd ph. 0"-55), tibia 0"-9.5, 

 calcaneum 0"7, foot 0''-45. 



Nycteris thehaica, Geofi". 



.V. angolensis, Ptrs., has been lately reported by its describer from Ndi, 

 Taita, north of Zanzibar, on the opposite side of the African continent from 

 Ano-ola. Thus it occurs in a country very close to Zanzibar, whence comes 

 N. °fuliginosa, Ptrs., originally described from Mozambique. In Western 

 Africa N. damarensis, Ptrs., from Damara-laud, appears as an intermediate 

 form between N. anrjoJensis from the north and N. capensis from the south. 

 The geographical cliain is thus completed. It is difficult to imagine such 

 allied forms meeting and not interbreeding freely. I have already remarked 

 that I do not think the size or position of the second lower premolar 

 (which is more or less rudimentary in all the known Ethiopian species 

 of the genus) of sufficient importance to found a species upon. I have 

 pointed out its variability in N. grandis, and I believe that the different 

 sizes and positions of this tooth as exhibited in the following table are 

 but other examples of its variability in a single species, namely — in N. 

 thehaica : 



/I. Second lower premolar qinte internal to the tooth-row. 



//'. Second lower premolar minute . . . . 1. iV. thehaica. 



Egypt ; Abyssinia. 



h'. Second lower premolar larger 2. N. angolensis. 



Angolo ; Pokomo-land. 



h. Second lower premolar half internal to the tooth-row. 



c'. Second lower premolar larger 3. N. damarensis. 



Damara-land. 

 c. Second lower premolar in the tooth-row. 



d'. Second lower premolar minute .... 4. N. cajycntds. 



Zambesi ; Natal. 



<■'. Second lower premolar larger 5. N. fuliginosa. 



Zanzibar ; Mozambique. 



Family Vespertilionidje. 

 Plecotus aiiritus, L. 



Sir Joseph Payrer has lately sent me specimens of this bat rrom 

 Sutherlandshii'e; it therefore extends from the extreme south almost to 

 the extreme north of Great Britain, though probably not found in the 

 Shetlands, for Mr. Ernest Brown, now (August) visiting these islands, has 

 at my request particularly inquired into the presence of bats there, and 

 writes to me that he has never seen one since his arrival, and that the 

 inhabitants assure him that such animals are quite unknown there. 



This widely distributed species has also lately been recorded by Dr. 

 Peters from Nikko, Japan, so that it extends from the extreme west to 

 the extreme east of the Palaearctic Region. 



PJecohis ustus, Heuglin, is re-described in the * Reise in Nordost- 

 Afrika,' p. 30 (1877), but whether that (?) species really belongs to the 

 genus Plcrotus or not I am quite unable to judge from the description, 

 which omits all reference to the dental characters. 



