546 



December 14, 1858. 



Dr. Gray, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. 



The following papers were read : — 

 1. Notes on a Collection of Mammalia made by Mr. Fraser 



AT GuALAQUIZA. By ROBERT F. TOMES. 



1. Vespertilio chiloensis, Waterh. 

 V. nigricans, Pr. Max. ? 



Of this species — the commonest true Vespertilio in South Ame- 

 rican Collections, and occurring also in Mexico — Mr. Fraser has sent 

 home two specimens, one adult and the other young. I entertain 

 but little doubt that this is the Bat called by Prince Maximilian 

 Vesp. nigricans. There is no South American species which answers 

 so well to his description as this one, and it is so common that it 

 would hardly have escaped his notice. It occurs in New Granada, 

 Bolivia, Brazil, Chiloe, and Guatemala, to which we must now add 

 Mr. Fraser' s locality. In Bolivia it must be exceedingly numerous, 

 Mr. Bridges having sent great numbers thence. 



2. V. velatus, Isid. Geoff, sp. 



Plecotus velatus, Isid. Geoff. 

 Histiotus velatus, P. Gerv. 



Although placed in the genus Plecotus by M. Isid. Geoffroy, it 

 is simply a Vespertilio with large oval ears, entire at their outer 

 margin, as in V. bechsteinii, and V. pallidus, Le Conte. It appears 

 to me to have none of the peculiarities of Plecotus, excepting the 

 size of the ears ; and neither do I think it was necessary to establish 

 a new genus for its reception, as we find done in the volume devoted 

 to the description of the species of Mammalia collected during the 

 travels of M. Castelnau. 



It is probable that this is the species described by Poepig under 

 the name of Nycticejus macrotis*. 



3. Scotophilus furinalis, P. Gerv. sp. 



Vespertilio furinalis, P. Gerv. et D'Orb. Voy. Amer. Merid. 



A greater number of this than of any other species of Bat appears 

 in the collection. Hitherto it must have been rare in Museums, as I 

 have met with but one specimen, and that may have been one of those 

 from which the original description was taken, as it was contained in 

 the French National Collection. 



4. Molossus obscurus, Geoff. Ann. du Mus. vi. ; Temm. Mon. i. 

 Molossus fuliginosus, Gray, Mag. Zool. Bot. ii. 



* Reise in Chili, Peru, &c. 1835. 



