The great size, the pointed shape, and the long stride usually distinguish it from the track of a domestic cow. Ordinarily, the clouts do not show. The dung pellets, however, are very important diagnostics. They are cylindrical, about ⅝ inch through and 1¼ inches long. Probabilities of time and place must always be considered. Oftentimes the hind foot is set far ahead of the front-foot track. The excessive spreading of the hoofs is a strong character of moose tracks.] [Illustration: TRACK OF A COW MOOSE WALKING IN THREE OR FOUR INCHES OF MUD In this the clouts show clearly. The excessive pointedness of the cow’s track is not a fixed character. The hoofs of a moose in swamp country are larger and more pointed than those in a rocky country, because less worn. The cow track, in this case, was sketched in a land of swamps, so that it is longer and sharper than the average.] Within a few years considerable publicity has been given to the supposed possibility of utilizing bats to destroy mosquitoes and thus eliminate malaria from infested areas. One or more bat houses have been built at San Antonio, Texas, for the purpose of assembling bats in large numbers, and many untenable claims have been put forth concerning the benefit to be derived from their services. The Mexican bat is the species which abounds above all others at San Antonio and is the principal species which has occupied the bat houses near town. It is definitely known that bats often fly miles from their roosts when feeding and do not concentrate on any one kind of insect. Examination of the contents of the stomachs of Mexican bats shows that they feed on beetles and numerous other insects, but rarely upon mosquitoes. I have visited many Mexican towns and villages in which every house was haunted by numbers of these bats and where malaria was perennial. The evidence against these animals serving any useful purpose in checking malaria is conclusive. It may be repeated here, however, that all of our bats are of high utility as insect-destroyers and should be protected. Among the many species of varying habits which exist in the United States, a few make their homes about houses in annoying numbers. In place of killing them to abate the nuisance, it would be better to exclude them from buildings by closing the entrance ways promptly after all have left in the evening, and thus by quiet eviction cause them to find abiding places elsewhere. The destruction of forests, and the consequent absence of the hollow trees where they formerly lived, is mainly responsible for bats and chimney swifts coming to houses for harbor. =THE BIG-EARED DESERT BAT= (=Antrozous pallidus= and its relatives) (_For illustration, see page 567_)