6 



M A M M A L G Y. 



Form. — Muzzle broad ; lips wrinkled and large ; nostrils round, each 

 on the outer edge of a disk, which is edged with very short rigid 

 bristles ; ears large, connected in front, rugose, and having each on 

 its anterior margin, which is recurved, six or eight very short spine- 

 like protuberances; wings long; toes of the hind feet with long re- 

 curved bristles. Interfemoral membrane including nearly half of 

 the tail, velvety ; tail moderate, or rather small. Teeth thirty : in- 

 cisors in upper jaw, two; canines, one on each side; molars, five on 

 each side. Lower jaw with four very small incisors; canines, one 

 on each side ; molars, five on each side. Fur of the entire body short, 

 dense, and very fine. 



Dimensions. — Total length, about four and a half inches ; extent of 

 'the wings, fourteen and a half inches; tail, one and eight-tenths of an 

 inch, of which about one inch is beyond the interfemoral membrane. 



Color. — Entire pilage, above and below, fine light chestnut-brown, 

 or snuff-color, lighter on the under parts of the body. Membranes of 

 the wings light purplish-brown; ears light brown, with some parts 

 purplish ; interfemoral membrane silky-brown. Bristles of the hind 

 feet nearly white. The whole body having a silvery or frosty appear- 

 ance in some lights. 



Hab. — Brazil, Specimen in Nat. Mus. Washington City. 



It is not without very considerable doubts and misgivings, that we 

 retain the present bat as a previously undescribed species. It much 

 resembles Molossus rugosus, as cited above, in all respects except color, 

 in which, however, it does not difier from that species in a greater de- 

 gree than we have seen specimens of the common Molossus rvfus of 

 South America differ from each other. Our present specimen is, 

 moreover, a male, and that described and figured by D'Orbigny as 

 above, was a female. We retain it solely on account of its peculiarity 

 of color. It is also evidently nearly related to Molossus velox of 

 authors, also a South American species, and is very probably identical 

 with one or the other of the species mentioned, though we have not 

 at hand a sufficiently extensive collection in this difficult family for 

 comparison or for deciding the question. 



Mr. Peale states, with reference to this species : 



