58 five Swedes of Vesper tiUo. 



Incisors -^- canines -|— r- molars -^4- =30. 



6 1—1 5—5 



Total length ... - from 3.0 to 3.S inches. 



Tail, about " 1.3 " J .5 "• 



Fore arm " 1.3 " 1.5 " 



Tibia " 0.7 " 0.8 " 



Spread " 10.0 " 11.0 " 



There has been much disagreement among authors respect- 

 ing the dental system of this Bat. Say first detected the error 

 of Pennant, who thought it had no upper incisors. F. Cuvier 

 is the only author who has given a complete dental formula 

 for the species, but it is not correct.* Desmarest, following 

 Rafinesque, arranges the V. noveboracensis under the genus 

 Atalajpha, characterized by the total absence of incisors ! The 

 above formula may be relied on, having been carefully verified 

 by my own repeated examinations, and confirmed by the notes 

 communicated by Major Le Conte. 



The Red Bat of Pennsylvania, figured in (he sixth volume 

 of Wilson's Ornithology, is no other, as Godman has remark- 

 ed, than this species, and one of the lighter colored varieties. 

 Lesson, an industrious French naturalist, concluded from 

 Wilson's account of its dental system, that it belonged to the 

 African genus Twphozous, in which he has been followed by 

 Cuvier in his second edition, with what reason may be infer- 

 red from our description. In, effect the incisors rise so little 

 above the gum, and even in prepared skulls the lower are so 

 minute and so crowded together, that the most careful inspec- 

 tion with a lens is requisite to detect the actual number. 



The Red or New-York Bat is common over a great extent 

 of country, including the southern and middle states, and the 

 western to near the Rocky Mountains, where it was met with by 

 Major Long's party. During winter it remains in a torpid 

 state in caverns and similar places, where it has been found at 



* Dents des Mammifcres, p. 48. 



