OF SELBORNE. 
93 
LETTER XXXVI. 
TO THE SAME. 
DEAR SIR, Sept. 1771. 
The fummer through I have feen but two of that large fpecies 
of bat which I call vefpertilio altlvolans, from it's manner of feeding 
high in the air : I procured one of them, and found it to be a 
male ; and made no doubt, as they accompanied together, that 
the other was a female : but, happening in an evening or two to 
procure the other likewife, I was fomewhat difappointcd, when it 
appeared to be alfo of the fame fex. This circumftance, and the 
great fcarcity of this fort, at leaft in thefe parts, occafions fome 
fufpicions in my mind whether it is really a fpecies, or whether 
it may not be the male part of the more known fpecies, one of 
which may fupply many females ,* as is known to be the cafe in 
flieep, and fome other quadrupeds. But this doubt can only be 
cleared by a farther examination, and fome attention to the fex, 
of more fpecimens : all that I know at prefent is, that my two 
were amply furnifhed with the parts of generation much refem- 
bling thofe of a boar. 
In the extent of their wings they meafured fourteen inches and 
an half ; and four inches and an half from the nofe to the tip of 
the tail: their heads were large, their noflrils bilobated, their 
fhoulders broad and mufcular ; and their whole bodies flefhy and 
plump. Nothing could be more fleek and foft than their fur, 
which was of a bright chefnut colour ; their maws were full of 
food J 
