6. VESPKRDGO. 213 



length of the foot. Wing-membranes attached to the ankles. Post- 

 ealcaneal lobe large, semicircular, placed on the calcaneum at a dis- 

 tance from the tibia equal to the breadth of the foot. The last rudi- 

 mentary caudal vertebra free. 



Fur, above and beneath, bright yellowish brown, the hairs paler 

 towards their bases. 



Above, the fur of the body extends upon the wing-membrane as 

 far as a line drawn from the middle of the humerus to the knee- 

 jomt ; the wing-membrane is covered nearly as far as a line drawn 

 from the middle of the humerus to the knee-jouit ; the interfemoral 

 membrane is clothed nearly as far back as the middle of the tibia ; 

 in front the inner side of the ear is covered with short fine hairs, 

 which also appear upon the tragus, and a few upon the reflected 

 outer margin of the conch ; beneath, the wing-membrane is rather 

 thickly clothed as far as a line drawn from the elbow to the knee- 

 joint ; and a broad band of fme short hairs passes outwards behind 

 the forearm to the carpus *. On the interfemoral membrane the fur 

 e.xtends slightly further *han upon the upper surface, but is much 

 shorter. 



Inner upper incisor on each side uniciispidate tu old individuals, 

 but in those just adult there is a second small cusp placed externally 

 and posteriorly near the extremity of the tooth ; the outer incisor 

 short, its summit directed inwards towards the inner incisor, its base 

 nearly double the transverse diameter of that tooth, grooved and 

 hoUowed out on the outer side so as to receive in the closed position 

 of the jaws the summit of the cusp of the lower canine (Plate XIII. 

 fig. 2 a) ; lower incisors crowded, overlapping. First upper premolar 

 very small, in the inner angle between the closely approximated canine 

 and second premolar ; last upper molar triangular in cross section, 

 eqiial to half the antepenultimate molar in diameter from before 

 backwards ; the second lower premolar slightly higher than the first, 

 and about half the size of the canine (Plate XIII. fig. 2). 



Ifab. Palaearctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental Eegions, extending from 

 England to Japan, and from the Scandinavian Peninsula to Southern 

 Africa. In Europe generally distributed ; in Asia extending from 

 Western Turkestan along the Himalayas and other mountain-ranges 

 to Ceylon, and through the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra and Java ; 

 in Africa recorded from the northern parts and from Mozambique, 

 it is probably widely distributed throughout the high lands of that 

 continent. 



The distribution of this species is therefore very wide, and only 

 exceeded by that of the Serotine ( V. serotinus). 



(For measurements, see Table, p. 216.) 



a. 2 ad., al. Cambridgeshire. Rev. L. Jenyns [P.]. 



b. $ ad., al. Stuttgart. Dr. Giinther [P.l 



c. d. 2 ad., al. Spain. Lord Lilford [P.J. 

 e. skeleton. England. Purchased. 



* See an excellent representation of this distribution of the fur upon the 

 wing-membrane of V. lasiopterus in Schreber, Siiugethiere, i. pi. Iviii. B. 



