PERUVIAN BAT. 139 



of the body of a deep ash-colour; the lower paler: 

 the tail long; the five last joints entirely disen- 

 gaged from the membrane. Length above two 

 inches; extent nine and a half, Inhabits the 

 West Indies. 



PERUVIAN BAT. 



Vespertilio Leporinus. V, caudatus, labio superiore bijido. Lin, 



Syst. Nat. Gmel. p. 47. 

 Tailed Bat, with the upper lip bifid. 

 Noctilio Americanus. N. labio superiore e varicoso. Lin. Syst. Nat, 



ed. 12. p. 88. 

 Vespertilio catosimilis Americanus. Seb. mus, i,p. 89. /. 55./^ I. 

 Peruvian Bat. Pennant Quadr. 



Linnaeus, as Mr. Pennant well observes, car- 

 ried away by the love of system, placed this spe- 

 cies, in the twelfth edition of the Systema Na- 

 turae, under a distinct genus, by the name of 

 Noctilio; stationing it at a great distance from 

 the rest of the Bats, in the order Glires, next 

 to the Squirrels. This he did merely on account 

 of its having only two cutting-teeth in each jaw. 

 But succeeding observations have conspired to 

 prove that the number and disposition of the teeth 

 differs greatly in the different species of the Bats; 

 so that if a too rigid regard were paid to this par- 

 ticular, several distinct genera might be instituted 

 instead of one ; but the general characters of the 

 Bats are so striking as to render this perfectly un- 

 necessary. 



