QUADRUMANA. 



7 



" This remarkable bat flew on board the U. S. Ship Peacock, off 

 the coast of Brazil, on the 18th of November, when the ship was 

 about one hundred miles from land, south of Cape St. Roque. When 

 caught, it did not utter any audible sound, but was violent in defend- 

 ing itself at first ; soon, however, it became sufficiently tame to allow 

 itself to be handled, provided no violence was offered; at night, 

 it became much more active than it was during the day, and uttered 

 a single sharp impatient squeak, whenever it found that it could not 

 escape from the cage." 



Of the genus Molossus (GeolF. St. Hil.), to which this species belongs, 

 there are not less than eighteen or twenty species, the greater part of 

 which inhabit South America and the West Indies. There are others, 

 which are natives of the old continent. They are designated by some 

 authors, as " Bulldog Bats," on account of the breadth and strength 

 of their jaws and peculiar physiognomy. A few species have been 

 ascertained to inhabit the Southern United States, and are described 

 by Mr. William Cooper, in the Annals of the New York Lyceum of 

 Natural History, IV, p. 64, accompanied by figures (same volume, PI. 

 III). 



Mr. Peale's name, aurispinoms we consider objectionable, as scarcely 

 expressing the idea intended, which appears to have been spinous- 

 eared. It is quite too near meaning golden-spined. Moreover, the 

 spinous processes on the ears in this species, are by no means peculiar. 

 In the plate of the species described by Mr. Cooper, in the Annals of 

 the New York Lyceum, as above cited, this character is represented 

 very conspicuously, and, undoubtedly, with the most entire truthful- 

 ness. 



3. Genus PTEROPUS, Brisson, R^g. Anim. (1756). 



General characters similar to those of other groups of the family 

 Yespertilionidce, or bats. The species of this genus are, however, the 

 largest of the animals of this family. 



1. Pteropus samoensis, Peale. 



Pterojous samornsis, Peale, Zool. Exp. Exp. Vincennes, Quadrupeds, p. 20, 1st ed. 

 (1848). 



