﻿186 Transactions.— Zoology. 



•5 inch ; extent of wiugs, 11-5 inches ; length of head -7 inch ; of ear, -7 inch; 

 of tragus, "36 inch. 



Of the two specimens in the Colonial Museum, one was obtained in the 

 Hutt Valley, near Wellington, and the other in Milford Sound, on the south- 

 west coast of the South Island. 



Dr. Gray named this bat tuherculata, under the impression that he was 

 describing the Vesjyertilio tuherculatus of Forster ; but it is evident from 

 Forster's description that his bat was the short-eared kind. As, therefore, 

 Dr. Gray's name was given in error, and as confusion is likely to arise if both 

 our bats have the same specific name, I propose to call this species velutina, 

 from the velvet like nature of its fur. 



Art. XXYI. — Observations on the New Zealand Bats. 

 By F. J. Knox, L.KC.S.E. 



\Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 16th September, 1871]. 



Bats take a high place among the Mammalia, and are chiefly distinguished 

 from the other orders of this great family, by an extension of the common 

 integuments on the pectoral and pelvic extremities, in or on which hair is not 

 developed. Even in the Bimana the inter-space between the fingers is more or 

 less palmated, and in the aquatic Mammalia, as in the seal, the integumentary 

 envelope extends to the roots of the nails. In the Gheirojytera , however, 

 although the human type of the skeleton has been strictly adhered to, the 

 skeleton of the pectoral extremities is so developed by elongation, more 

 especially of the bones of the hand, that the bat can soar in the free expanse 

 of the heavens, and thus look down upon his less-favoured brethren. This, 

 however, must be only taken figuratively, for it is a question whether he regu- 

 lates his aerial movements by means of sight or touch, the eyes being extremely 

 minute, defying even microscopic inspection, and it is supposed that the sense of 

 touch is rendered exceedingly acute by the extent of the tegumentary tissues 

 with nerves and blood-vessels, and thus supplies the want of sight. 



An equally interesting modification may be observed in the construction of 

 the pelvic extremities, and more especially in that of the foot. Had the whole 

 Bat family ceased to exist during any of the sweeping changes which have taken 

 place on the earth's surface, and bats become extinct — in other words fossil — 

 and a footprint, or even the bones of the foot, been discovered in some cave, 

 even a Cuvier would have been greatly puzzled to reconstruct the animal. 

 The foot of the bat resembles the quadrumanous or monkey type. The toes are 

 all of equal length, the first or great toe on a line with the others, all furnished 

 with sharp claws, and consequently not fitted to move on terra firma, or 



