144 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



nion. The forehead is shorter and larger in the bat of 

 Carolina. 



This species was first described by M. Geoffroy. It was 

 sent to France by M. Bose, who procured it in Carolina. 

 It is excessively common in that country. Its characters 

 may be summed up : oblong ears, of the length of the head, 

 partly covered with hair, auricula in the form of a demi- 

 heart. Fur brown marron above, yellowish underneath. 



The Noctule (Vesp. Noctula) might itself admit of an- 

 other very natural subdivision by the approximation to 

 each other of those species which have a mutual re- 

 semblance in the number of incisors and false molars. In 

 this point of view, the Noctule and the Barbastelle, (of 

 which we shall speak presently,) deserve to be united, and 

 distinguished from all the other Vespertiliones, inasmuch 

 as they have, in the upper jaw, four incisives and four 

 false molars ; and in the lower, six incisors and four false 

 molars, a combination exhibited by no other group of the 

 same family, nor, indeed, to any of the Cheiroptera hitherto 

 discovered. The upper incisors are separated in pairs, 

 rounded, pointed, and a little curved, and the first of each 

 intermaxillary incisor is larger than the second. The first 

 false molar is a very small anomalous, rudimentary tooth, 

 concealed at the basis of the canine. The second is a re- 

 gular tooth, and very large. The inferior incisors are 

 trenchant, and uniformly situated on the arc of a circle. 

 The two false molars, in this row, are regular. 



In pursuance of our plan of avoiding all superfluous details 

 of organization, we shall confine ourselves here to such as 

 are peculiar to the species in question. In the mammiferous 

 tribes, generally, the movement of the wrist is performed 

 by rather an exterior turning of the axis of the bone of 

 the arm ; but in the bats generally, the carpus, instead of 

 revolving below, in front of the fore-arm, does so on the 



