XXXIV INTEOD0CTION. 



in the Eastern Hemisphere which seem to have their nearest allies 

 among Neotropical species. Thus the very remarkable species 

 Cheiromeles torquatus (Plate XXI. figs. 1, 1 a), which has not been 

 found beyond the Indo-Malayan Subregion, appears to be more 

 closely related to some of the species of the Neotropical genus 

 Molossus than to any of the Old-World forms ; and the same remark 

 applies to Nyctinomus australis (Plate XXII. fig. 9), which is 

 characteristic of the Australian Eegion. 



The Phyllostomidce are strictly limited to the Neotropical Region, 

 of which they are, therefore, eminently characteristic. No species, 

 except Trachyops drrhosus (which has been found in Bermuda, and 

 is said to occur in South Carolina), extends beyond its limits. 

 Few, if any, of the species of this family, in the present state of our 

 knowledge, can be said to be characteristic of any of the subregions, 

 but certain species appear to be limited in their distribution within 

 the region. Thus, Mormops hlainvillii is confined to the AntiUean 

 Subregion, and Mormops megalophylla to the Mexican and Brazilian 

 Subregions. Artibeus perspicillatus inhabits the AntUlean, Mexican, 

 and Brazilian Subregions, but Artibeus planirosiris appears to be 

 limited to the Brazilian Subregion. Stenoderma achradophilum and 

 Stenoderma falcatum have not yet been found beyond the AntUlean 

 Subregion, and Desmodus rufus and Diphylla ecaudata have not been 

 recorded from it ; but this may be accounted for by the absence 

 of any of the larger warm-blooded animals on which these species 

 prey. 



Of aU the families of Chiroptera the Vesper tilionidie have not only 

 the widest geographical range, but also extend to higher latitudes 

 both north and south of the Equator. The northern limit of the 

 species appears to correspond to the isothermal of 32° or thereabouts. 

 Vesperugo borealis, according to Nilsson, extends to the northern 

 parts of the Scandinavian Peninsula, probably as far as the limit of 

 the Arctic Circle ; and Blasius observed it in Northern Russia, where 

 it appears to occur even as far north as the neighbourhood of the 

 White Sea. Vesperugo (Lasionycteris) noctivagans has been taken 

 on the shores of James's Bay (Hudson's Bay) ; Vespertilio lucifugus 

 has been recorded from Lake Winnepeg, and Atalapha novehoraeensis 

 from the Aleutian Islands ; and Mr. Darwin (' Naturalist's Voyage,' 

 p. 236) notices the presence of a Bat (probably Vesperugo magel- 

 lanicus) on the wind-swept island of Tierra del Fuego. 



The Emhallonuridce have the next widest northern and southern 

 range, but they fall far short of the Vesxyertilionidce in this respect. 



