VI-SPKRTII,IO SrilUl.ATUS. IqS 



different color, its whole body be in ^- of a ver)' pale yellowish-brown, 

 almost inclining' to gray on the belly.* 



Mr. iMganierre K' Morao, Minister Plenipotentiary from Portugal 

 to the Ignited States, published, some years ago, an account of a 

 colony of l)ats that caused him great annoyance. This [)apcr con- 

 tains so much of intcM'est that a few pertintMit extracts from it ar(^ 

 here introduced : — 



"In the winter of 1859, having purchased the: property known 

 as Scmeca Point, in the margin of the Northeast River, near 

 Charlestown, in Cecil Count}". Mar\-land, wc took possession of it 

 In May of the next \'ear. . . . Having bcc'U uninhabited for 

 several )-ears, it exhibited the appearance, with the exception of one 

 or two rooms, of desolation and neglect. . . . The weather, 

 which was l)eautiful, balm\- and warm, iiuited us towards evening 

 to out-door enjoyment and rest, after a fatiguing day of travel and 

 acti\'e labor ; but chairs, settees, and benches were scarcely occupied 

 b\' us on the piazza and lawn, when, to our amazement, and the 

 horror of the female portion of our part)', small black bats made 

 their appearance in Immense numbers, llickerlng around the 

 preniises, rushing In and out of doors and through oj)en windows. 

 Evening after evening did we patlentl\- though not 

 complacently watch this periodical exodus of dusky wings into 

 light froni thcnr lurking-places. . . . Thcnr excursions in\ari- 

 a1)ly commenced with the cry of the ' whippoorwill,' both at coming 

 evenino- and at c;arl\- dawn, and it was observed that the\- alwa}-s 



* Concerning the number of young produced at a birth, et cetera, by Vespertilio sttbula/us. Dr. 

 ,\. K. Fislicr writes. "Of ten pregnant females wliich \vc examined last June, i8So, eacli con- 

 tained two young. I'rof. Burt. (i. Wilder (Pop. .Sci. Mo., No. 42, p. 651) examined twenty 

 females in June, 1874. Each contained two little bats, though Dr. C. C. Abbott states (Geology 

 of New Jersey, Appendix, p. 752), that they bring forth a litter of three to five. We consider this 

 number unusual, as all the specimens examined by us never contained more nor less than two. The 

 abdomen of the female is not so prominent, but very mucli broadened, a f(Ctus developing in each 

 horn of the uterus. The uterine walls at term are very thin, the entire organ weighing only al)out 

 a centigramme. The placenta of this species is circular, measuring nine millimetres in diameter, 

 the umbilical cord being twelve millimetres long. \ young one taken from a female whose 

 mamm;\.> contained milk, weighed 1,350 milligrammes " (Forest and Stream, \'ol. XVI, No. 25, 

 July 21, iSSo, )>. 490.) 



