6 INTRODUCTION 



unjustly forgotten Pterygistes, Pipistrellus, and Myotis. Yet 



so great has been, until recently, the general ignorance of the 



mammalian literature of the past, that it was left to Dr 



Andersen in 1908 to show that the Noctule and its congeners 



must be assigned to the genus Nyctalus hitherto associated 



with the fruit bats. Thus Nyctalus replaces Pterygistes 



with almost confusing celerity. The changes effected, although 



in themselves sufficiently violent and for a time inconvenient, 



are likely to be as permanent as any other system of 



nomenclature, and have now been, with exceptions as to 



details, accepted by the majority of systematic zoologists. 



We thus find the vespertilionid bats apportioned to six 



genera, viz. : — Nyctalus with two species ; Pipistrellus with 



one ; Vespertilio with one ; Myotis with four ; Barbastella with 



one ; and Plecotus with one. The RhinolophidcB, with one 



genus {Rhinolophus) and two species, remain as before. 



The present aspect of our study cannot but at first sight 



appear pedantic ; and the writer would be fortunate who could 



avoid it altogether. But there is no excuse for neglecting details, 



even of nomenclature, and each change may be welcomed as one 



step more toward such finality as is possible to human institutions. 



Structure :— For a proper appreciation of the specific and 



generic characters of bats, a thorough acquaintance with the 



form of their ears and wings and the shape 



and number of their teeth is necessary. In 



acquiring this, the diagram (Fig. i) will be 



found useful. 



In all British bats except the Rhinolo- 



phidcB there springs from the inner or anterior 



margin of the ear a process called the tragus ; 



it has the appearance of a second or inner 

 Fig. I.— Diagram OF A q.,- a* ^i, u c ji. 



Bat's Ear. ^^^' ^^ '"^ h^.^^ of the Outer or opposite 



a, tragus; margin, and especially conspicuous in the 



^, antitragus ; RhinolopMdcB, arises a lobe known as the 



c, anterior margin ; .• ^-i, , , . , , 



rf, posterior margin. antitragus. 1 he shape and size of these 

 two is of some importance in classifying and 

 identifying these animals (Fig. 3), but great caution should be 

 observed in the examination of these parts in preserved speci- 

 mens, the ears of which may alter considerably. In a series of 



