TYPICAL GROUP. 
273 
Its ears are considerably longer than the head. The second genus, Nydophilus , 
comprises one species from Australia and a second from New Guinea, which, while 
possessing the same number of teeth as Hemprich’s bat, are distinguished by the 
possession of a rudimentary nose-leaf. Finally, we have the Californian cave-bat 
( Antrozous pallidus), in which there are only twenty-eight teeth, owing to the 
reduction of the number of the lower incisors to two pairs (a feature unique among 
the typical bats), the genus being also distinguished from all the members of the 
family hitherto mentioned by the ears being disconnected with one another. 
The Pipistrelle, Noctule, and Serotine. 
Genus Vesperugo. 
The pipistrelle, noctule, and serotine, of which the first and second are figured 
among our illustrations, are the three best-known British representatives of the 
large and widely-distributed genus Vesperugo; the pipistrelle ( V. pipistrellus) 
being the common English bat. With these bats we enter upon the consideration 
of a group of genera, distinguished from that containing the long-eared bat 
and its allies by several more or less important features. Among these may 
be mentioned the simple nature of the nostrils, which are without any trace 
of groovings or foldings of the skin, while the ears are usually of comparatively 
small size, and are always quite separate from one another. 
The bats included in the same genus ( Vesperugo ) as the pipistrelle are very 
numerous, and vary to a certain extent in personal appearance, and also in the 
number of their teeth, which is either thirty, thirty-four, or thirty-six. Dr. Dobson 
says that they may be easily recognised by their relatively stout bodies, their broad 
and flattened heads and blunt muzzles, as well as by their broad, short, and 
triangular ears, in which the tragus is usually rather thick and inclined somewhat 
inwardly. Moreover, their legs are unusually short, and the membrane connecting 
the legs with the tail almost always has a small supplemental portion situated on 
the outer side of the spur rising from the heel. 
Certain species of the genus approximate, however, in some of their characters 
to bats of other groups ; one coming so close in general appearance to the long-eared 
bats that, without careful examination, it might readily be mistaken for a member 
of that group. “ This genus of bats,” observes Dr. Dobson, “ probably contains the 
greatest number of individuals among the Chiroptera. The common bats of all 
countries, especially of those lying within the tropical and subtropical regions of 
the northern hemisphere, generally belong to it. . . . The colour of the fur is 
generally dark-brown or black, the extremities of the hairs being of a paler colour 
on the upper surface, and ashy or whitish beneath.’ One species of this genus 
(V borealis) has the most northern range of all bats, having been observed flying 
within the limits of the Arctic circle. 
The pipistrelle, which we take as the first example of the genus, belongs to the 
typical section of Vesperugo, in which the incisors number f and the premolar teeth 
are § on either side of the jaws. It is a small species, measuring T65 inches in 
length of head of body, and with a span of wing of about 8 A- inches. The fur is 
vol. 1.—18 
