THE BARBASTELLE 



215 



beyond the tip of the muzzle ^ ; it is nearly as broad as long and irregu- 

 larly four-sided ; the inner edge is reflected, forming a longitudinal 

 groove just within the margin ; the outer and superior angle is 

 prominent, rounded, and turned back ; immediately beneath this, on the 

 external margin, is a rather deep notch, from which five or six slight 

 transverse folds extend about half-way across the conch ; the anterior 

 inner angle unites with its fellow immediately behind the muzzle. The 

 tragus has a length more than half that of the ear ; it is of an irregular 

 lanceolate or semicordate form, with one conspicuous and two or three 

 smaller protuberances near the base of the superiorly concave outer 

 margin ; the terminal third is straight and the apex rounded ; the inner 

 margin is faintly convex. 



In the wing (Plate XVII., Fig. 2) the most remarkable features are 

 the small foot and large lower leg, the proportions of which are unique 

 amongst British vespertilionid bats. The tail, longest digit, as well as 

 the third and fifth metacarpals, are, as compared with their forearm, 

 exceptionally long. The fifth metacarpal is distinctly shorter than the 

 third. The result is a wing amply, but not exceptionally broad, and a 

 large interfemoral membrane. 



The fur is soft and long. The upper side of the muzzle is naked, 

 but the tumid cheek is thickly clothed with hair, forming a kind of 

 moustache and almost concealing the eye. The wing on the upper 

 surface is furred thickly to about as far as a line passing from the knee 

 to the centre of the humerus, and on the interfemoral membrane to a 

 line running from slightly above the knee-joint to a point one-third 

 of the distance along the tail. Beneath, the fur extends somewhat 

 beyond a line joining elbow and knee, and a sprinkling of hairs runs 

 along the membrane behind the forearm to the carpus. On the outer 

 side of the ear a thick column of fur clothes the central and lower 

 portions, but the outer margin is bare ; the inner margin is fringed for 

 almost its whole length by a band of hairs. On the inner surface the 

 conch is sprinkled with hairs : a thick band of hair runs along the line 

 of the anterior folding almost to the apex, becoming thinner as it ascends. 



The colour above is dusky, almost black, most of the hairs 

 having whitish or yellowish tips, thus causing a frosted appear- 

 ance, which may be most conspicuous in the region between the 

 shoulders. Beneath, the colours are similar, but the light tips are more 

 numerous, whiter and longer, and their influence predominates increas- 

 ingly towards the furred portion of the wings and interfemoral 

 membrane, which are lightest, the dusky basal portions of the hairs 

 being there absent. The wing, ear, foot, and nose are dusky. 



' At least in fresh specimens. Dobson's statement that, " laid forwards the tips 

 extend to a point midway between the eye and the end of the muzzle " {Catalogue of 

 Chiroptera, 176), may have been based on stale specimens distorted in alcohol. 



