﻿NYCTICEIUS HUMERALIS 



119 



1864. Xycticejus crepnscularis H. Alleu, Mouogr. N. Am. Bats, p. 11. 

 1878. Nycticejas crepnscularis Dobson, Catal. Chiroptera Brit. Mus., p. 266. 

 1891. Xycticejus luimeralis Thomas, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., 6th ser., VII, p. 528. 

 1893. Xycticejus humeraUs H. Allen, Monogr. Bats, N. Am., p. 132. 



Type locality, — Kentucky. 



Geographic distrihution. — Austral zones in the eastern United States 

 west to Arkansas aucl southern Texas. 



General characters. — Size, medium (total length, 88 to 95; forearm, 

 34 to 38); color, dull brownish, slightly paler beneath. 



Uars. — The ears are small, and for their size remarkably thick and 

 leathery. They are naked throughout except at extreme base above. 

 Lower anterior half of inner surface with a few short scattered hairs. 

 Anterior border strongly convex immediately above small but dis- 

 tinct anterior basal lobe, then very slightly 

 convex to narrowly rounded off tip. Poste- 

 rior border gently concave from immediately 

 below tip to a little below middle, then con- 

 vex to slightly developed external basal lobe. 



Tragus short, broad, and blunt, bent slightly 

 forward; posterior base with distinct lobule. 



Membranes, — The membranes, like the ears, 

 are thick and leathery. Wing membranes at- 

 tached at base of toes, uropatagium at middle 

 of, terminal caudal vertebra. 



Fur and color. — The fur is sparse and short, 

 that on middle of back averaging about 0 

 mm. in length. It is closely confined to the 



body, barely reaching extreme base of uropatagium and flight mem- 

 braues. 



Color duU umber brown above, paler below, the fur everywhere 

 plumbeous at extreme base, but the dark basal color less well defined 

 than in other species with which Nycticeius is found associated. The 

 exact shade varies slightly, but is usually burnt umber or mummy 

 brown on the back and raw umber or hair brown on the belly. One 

 skin from Hickman County, Tenn. (No. 30637, U. S. National Museum), 

 is dark sepia above, broccoli brown below. 



Simll.— The skull (fig. 35) is short, broad, and low. That of an adult 

 female from Sans Souci, N. C. (Xo. 43037, U. S. i^ational Museum), meas- 

 ures 14 mm. in greatest length and 10 mm. in zygomatic breadth; great- 

 est length of mandible, 10.6. Dorsal profile nearly straight from external 

 nares to occiput, but slightly convex over front part of brain case. 

 Occiput never developing strongly marked ridges. Length of bony 

 palate behind molars (exclusive of central spine), about half width of 

 interpterygoid fossa. 



Teeth.— The teeth (fig. 36) are not so large as might be expected from 

 the massiveuess of the skull. Upper tooth row of adult female from 

 Sans Souci, N. C, 6; lower, 6.8. Upper incisor close to canine, but 



Fig. 35.— Skull of Kyctictiuis 

 humeralis (X2). 



