82 



The relations of this order, of mammals to superstition, while no legit- 

 imate part of the present history, is very interesting, and is here tran- 

 scribed from the facile pen of Dr. H. Allen : 



"Attendant as they are upon the quiet hours of twilight, when the thidsening gloom 

 is conducive to the development of superstitious feeling, Bats have always been associ- 

 ated with ideas of the horrible and the unknown. In olden times, when the imagina- 

 tion of the people exceeded the accuracy of their observations, it was one of the 

 numerous monsters inhabiting their caverns and forests. It has done service in many a 

 legend ; its bite was fatal ; it was the emblem of haunted houses ; its wings bore up the 

 dragon slain by St. George ; its image is- rudely carved upon the tombs of the ancient 

 Egyptians; the Greeks consecrated it to Proserpine ; it is part of the infernal potion of 

 the witches of Macbeth, while Ariel employs it in his erratic flights. In art, its wings 

 have entered largely into the creation of those composite horrors — evil spirits; nor have 

 modern artists escaped the absurdity of encumbering the Satan of Holy Writ with like 

 appendages. Bat of this association with the moustrftus, the intelligent observer ceases 

 to take note, when the finer beauties of structure develop themselves under his gaze. 

 Upon acquaintance, he learns that in anatomical and physiological peculiarities, and 

 zoological position, the Bat is a subject for study worthy the attention of the most con- 

 ■emplative." 



FAMILIES OF CHIEOPTERA. 



* Bats without upright appendage on the nose. (Gymnorhina.) 



t Nostrils sub-elliptical ; wing-membranes ample ; tail completely enclosed in the in- 

 terfemoral membrane, or the final joint only in some instances exserted. 



Vespbrtilionidje. 



FAMILY VESPERTILIONIDiE. 



The above characters separate our largest family of North American 

 Bats from the free-tailed NoctUionidee, which have the nostrils circular, 

 the alar membrane narrow, and the tail either much longer or shorter 

 than the interfemoral membrane ; also, from the single North American 

 species of the Leaf-nosed Bats, Phyllostomatidee, which are readily recognized 

 by the upright appendage surmounting the rostrum. The latter family 

 is represented by the Leaf-nosed Bat, Macrotus waterhovsii, Gray, of the 

 West Indies, Mexico, and the southern border of the United States. 



GeNBKA op VBSPBRTIL10NID.ffl;. 



* CheeJs s without excrescences ; ears moderate. 



+ Incisors 3I3 Vbspbrtilio. 



tt Incisors 3-3 Atalapha. 



Genus Vespertilio (Linn.) Auct. 



Vespertilio, Linn., of authors. 



Scotophilus, Leach, Trans. Linn. Soc, xiii, 1822,71. — Allen, Monog.,27. 



Vesperus, Keys, and Bias., Wirb. Eur,, 1840, 49. 



Vesperides, Coues, antea. 



