Note 189 — {153} CHAPTER IX

I. Vespertilio pruinosus.—Ears large, short, not so long as the head, hairy on the exterior side more than half their length; tragus very obtuse at tip, arcuated; canine teeth large, prominent; incisors, only one distinct one on each side, placed very near the canine, conic, almost on a line with it, and furnished with a small tubercle on its exterior base; nostrils distant; fur of the back, long, black brown at base, then pale brownish-yellow, then blackish, then white; towards the rump dark ferruginous takes the place of the brownish-yellow on the fur; beneath the colours are similar to those of the back; but on the anterior portion of the breast the fur is not tipped with white, and on the throat it is dull yellowish-white dusky at base; the brachial membrane is densely hairy on the anterior margin beneath; interfemoral membrane covered with fur: length nearly 4½ inches.

This bat is common in this region, and was observed by Mr. Thomas Nuttall at Council Bluffs. It is a fine large species, and remarkable for its many-coloured fur. It has much affinity with the New York bat, (V. novaboracensis,) but is more than double its size, and is distinguished from it by many minor characters.

The late professor Barton, presented a specimen of this bat to the Philadelphia museum, that had been captured in Philadelphia.

2. Vespertilio arquatus.—Head large, ears rather shorter than the head, wide, and at tip, rounded, hairy at base, posterior edge with two slight and very obtuse emarginations; the anterior base distant from the eye; tragus arquated, obtuse at tip; interfemoral membrane naked, including the tail to one half of the penultimate joint.

Total length 5 inches: tail 1½ inches.

Expansion more than 13 inches.

This bat might be readily mistaken for the Carolina bat, (V. carolinensis, Geoff.) which it resembles in colour, but differs from it in being of a larger size, the ears broader and proportionally shorter, and an arquated tragus, curving in an almost luniform manner towards the anterior portion of the ear, like that of the V. serotinus, Daub. Geoff., though not so broad. The upper incisor teeth, like those of several of our species of bats, are not prominent; they are very much inclined forward, and do not rise at their tips above the level of the intermediate callosity.—James.