642 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
from the City of Mexico, were hibernating; but I failed to note 
the beginning or ending of this period. 
When not in a lethargic state this bat is quite savage when 
handled, making strenuous efforts to bite and emitting querulous, 
high-pitched squeaks. Failing to reach my restraining fingers 
it was frequently seen to bite its own wing during what appeared 
to be paroxysms of anger. 
With this species I various times repeated the experiment of 
Spallanzani, made 200 years previous, in which he found that 
blinded bats avoided delicate objects, as silken threads, stretched 
across their line of flight with a facility equal to that of those 
that could see. My results were not equal to Spallanzani’s for 
although my bats certainly showed remarkable powers of detect¬ 
ing an approach to< an object, yet they occasionally would strike 
against a No. 18 wire. However, I fancy that had I, like Spal¬ 
lanzani, used silk threads I might not have noted this; but the 
wire gave an audible record of each touch no matter how light it 
was. It is quite possible, also, that this species is less adept on 
the wing than some others. Something about its makeup seemed 
to suggest a sort of chiropterine bulldog. 
It is a familiar species, commonly found about buildings and 
in this respect appears to occupy among bats somewhat the posi¬ 
tion in relation to man that the house sparrow does among 
birds. It will tolerate considerable light. At the museum in 
Tacubaya it regularly lived in large numbers between rafters, 
set an inch or two apart, supporting the cement roof of a long 
portico open to the light for the entire length of one side. It has 
a strong, disagreeable odor and is apparently more infested with 
vermine than any of the other species noted. 
Molossus rufus EL Goeff. 
Elia’ht specimens collected at Tetecala, Morelos, October 5th 
and 6th, 1890, by H. L. Ward and O. M. T'erax. 
The length measurements show a considerable range which, 
because of the very small number of specimens under considera¬ 
tion, run very unevenly. Agreements and discrepancies in the 
trend of the graphs are more or less evenly divided and the ex¬ 
tent to which individual variation exists in the species could 
only by extraordinary chance be indicated by so small a number 
