The genera _Nycteris_ and _Megaderma_, which range over the Ethiopian and Oriental regions to the Moluccas, are considered by Dr. Peters to form a distinct family, Megadermidæ; and Mr. Dobson in his recent arrangement (published after our first {183}volume was printed) adopts the same family under the name of Nycteridæ. The curious Indian genus _Rhinopoma_, which, following Dr. J. E. Gray, we have classed in this family, is considered by Mr. Dobson to belong to the Noctilionidæ. _Fossil Rhinolophidæ._--Remains of a species of _Rhinolophus_ still living in England, have been found in Kent's Cavern, near Torquay. FAMILY 12.--VESPERTILIONIDÆ (18 Genera, 200 Species.) GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. __________________________________/\__________________________________ / \ NEOTROPICAL| NEARCTIC |PALÆARCTIC | ETHIOPIAN | ORIENTAL | AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS. -----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------ | | | | | 1. 2. 3. 4 |1. 2. 3. 4 |1. 2. 3. 4 |1. 2. 3. 4 |1. 2. 3. 4 |1. 2. 3. 4 | | | | | The small bats constituting the family Vespertilionidæ, have no nose-membrane, but an internal earlet or _tragus_, and often very large ears. They range over almost the whole globe, being apparently only limited by the necessity of procuring insect food. In America they are found as far north as Hudson's Bay and the Columbia river; and in Europe they approach, if they do not pass the Arctic circle. Such remote islands as the Azores, Bermudas, Fiji Islands, Sandwich Islands, and New Zealand, all possess species of this group of bats, some of which probably inhabit every island in warm or temperate parts of the globe. The genus _Taphozous_, which, in our Tables of Distribution in vol. i. we have included in this family, is placed by Mr. Dobson in his family Emballonuridæ, which is equivalent to our next family, Noctilionidæ. _Fossil Vespertilionidæ._--Several living European bats of this family--_Scotophilus murinus_, _Plecotus auritus_, _Vespertilio noctula_, and _V. pipestrellus_--have been found fossil in bone-caves in various parts of Europe. Extinct species of _Vespertilio_ have occurred in the Lower Miocene at Mayence, in the Upper Miocene of the South of France, and in the Upper Eocene of the Paris basin. {184}FAMILY 13.--NOCTILIONIDÆ. (14 Genera, 50 Species.)