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.
[190] 1. Canis latrans.—Cinereous or gray, varied with black above, and dull fulvous, or cinnamon; hair at base dusky plumbeous, in the middle of its length dull cinnamon, and at tip gray or black, longer on the vertebral line; ears erect, rounded at tip, cinnamon behind, the hair dark plumbeous at base, inside lined with gray hair; eyelids edged with black, superior eyelashes black beneath, and at tip above; supplemental lid margined with black-brown before, and edged with black-brown behind; iris yellow; pupil black-blue; spot upon the lachrymal sac black-brown; rostrum cinnamon, tinctured with grayish on the nose; lips white, edged with black, three series of black seta; head between the ears intermixed with gray, and dull cinnamon, hairs dusky plumbeous at base; sides paler than the back, obsoletely fasciate with black above the legs; legs cinnamon on the outer side, more distinct on the posterior hair: a dilated black abbreviated line on the anterior ones near the wrist; tail bushy, fusiform, straight, varied with gray and cinnamon, a spot near the base above, and tip black: the tip of the trunk of the tail, attains the tip of the os calcis, when the leg is extended; beneath white, immaculate; tail cinnamon towards the tip, tip black; posterior feet four-toed, anterior five-toed.
| ft. | in. | |
|---|---|---|
| Total length (excepting the hair at tip of tail) | 3 | 9½ |
| Trunk of the tail | 1 | 0½ |
| Hind foot os calcis to tip of claw | 0 | 71⁄5 |
| Fore foot elbow to tip of claw | 1 | 0¾ |
| Ears from top of head | 0 | 4 |
| Rostrum from anterior can thus of the eye | 0 | 3¾ |
Taken in a trap, baited with the body of a wild cat.
The line on the anterior side of the anterior feet, near the wrist, is wanting in a second specimen.
This species varies very much in size; another specimen measured—
| ft. | in. | |
|---|---|---|
| In total length (excepting the hair at tip of tail) | 3 | 2½ |
| Tail (excepting the hair at tip of tail) | 0 | 11¾ |
| Ear from top of head to tip | 0 | 35⁄8 |