these two characters it may be added that the nose leaf is well developed, but is not so complicated as in the last family. The type genus Nycteris is Ethiopian and Oriental, nine species being African, and only one, N. javanica, being, as the specific name denotes, from the East. Megaderma is to be distinguished by the loss of the upper incisors. There is no tail, and the ears are particularly large. They are carnivorous Bats, and M. lyra, called the "Indian Vampire Bat," chiefly affects frogs as an article of diet.
Fam. 3. Vespertilionidae.—This family has not the nose leaf of other families. The apertures of the nostrils are simple, round, or crescentic apertures. The ear has a tragus, and the tail is not produced to any great degree behind the interfemoral membrane. There are two phalanges to the index digit.
This family in numbers of species is vastly in excess of any other family of Bats. The most recent estimate, that of P. L. and W. L. Sclater, allows 190. But the generic types are by no means so numerous as in the Phyllostomatidae. This is a significant fact when we reflect upon the geographical range of the two families. The Vespertilionidae range over the whole earth, while the Phyllostomatidae are practically limited to the South American continent, only just getting into the Nearctic region. They inhabit, therefore, a more restricted area, and, in consequence of competition, have specialised more freely than the widely-spread and therefore not crowded Vespertilionidae.
The genus Vesperugo is by far the largest genus of this family, embracing no less than seventy species. The tail is shorter than the head and body together; the ears are separate, and moderate or short in size; the tragus is generally short and obtuse. The dentition is I 2, C 1, Pm 2 or 1, M 3. It is a remarkable fact that this genus, unlike most Bats, produces two young at a time. The genus is universal in range, and one species, the Serotine Bat, known in this country, even ranges from the New World to the Old; but with so small a creature the possibility of accidental transportation by man must not be left out of sight. The British species are—V. serotinus, the Serotine already mentioned; V. discolor, a single example only of which has occurred, and may have been introduced; V. noctula, the habits of which were described by Gilbert White; V. leisleri; and the Pipistrelle, V. pipistrellus, which is the best-known member of the genus in this country.
The genus Vespertilio contains some forty-five species, and is world-wide in range. It has one more premolar in the upper jaw than has Vesperugo. There are no less than six British species, of which V. murinus is the largest species of Bat recorded from this country, but is not quite certainly indigenous.
Plecotus has very long ears. The dentition is I 2/3 C 1/1 Pm 2/3 M 3/3. The tragus is very large. There are but two or possibly three species, of which one is North American, and the other is the Long-eared Bat, P. auritus, of this country, but ranging as far as India. The shrill voice, inaudible to some ears, of this Bat has been heard of by everybody.
Synotus includes the British Barbastelle, S. barbastellus, as well as an Eastern form. It differs from the last genus principally by the loss of a lower premolar. The ears, too, are not so large. Otonycteris, Nyctophilus, and Antrozous are allied genera; the last is Californian, the others Old-World forms.
Kerivoula (or Cerivoula) has a long, pointed, narrow tragus. The tail is as long as or longer than the head and body. The dentition is as in Vespertilio; but the upper incisors are parallel instead of divergent as in that genus. The brilliantly-coloured K. picta is, on account of this very fact, the best-known species. The name Kerivoula, a corruption of the Cinghalese "Kehel vulha," signifies plantain bat. This Bat has been described as looking, when disturbed in the daytime, more like a huge butterfly than a Bat, which is naturally associated with sombre hues. Other species occur in the Oriental, Australian, and Ethiopian regions.
Miniopterus has a premolar less in the upper jaw; it has a long tail as in the last genus. One species, M. scheibersi, has almost the widest range of any Bat, it being found from South Europe to Africa, Asia, Madagascar, and Australia.