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Show 486 DR. G. E. DOBSON ON MYSTACINA TUBERCULATA. [June 6, The distinctions upon which Dr. v. Haast relies are chiefly the result of the comparison of the skull with a small figure of M. layardi quite inadequate for the purpose, and disappear on more rigid examination. For instance, the proportion of the height to the length of the lower jaw, one of Dr. v. Haast's most telling characters, is really identical, instead of being so widely different as supposed. The habitats of the two specimens, instead of being a reason for separating, would rather, in m y opinion, be one for uniting them, as there can be no possible barrier for a Cetacean between the seas of the Cape and those of New Zealand. I am therefore unable, upon the evidence before us, to accept Mesoplodon floweri as a well-established species. The great interest of the present communication is that it contains a description of the entire skeleton, and shows that it presents an exceedingly close resemblance to the well-known Northern form, M. sowerbiensis. 5. O n Mystacina tuberculata. By G. E. DOBSON, M.A., M.B., F.L.S., &c [Received May 13, 1876.] There are some important points in the external structure of that most remarkable species of Bat, Mystacina tuberculata of New Zealand, which have not yet been noticed, although one writer has occupied four closely printed pages of an octavo book in describing it. In a paper by Mr. R. F. Tomes, in our 'Proceedings' for 1857, p. 139, a coloured lithograph of this species is given, showing the very peculiar structure of a portion of the wing- and interfemoral membrane near the body; and in the text accompanying it are the following remarks : - " The portions of membrane contiguous to the forearm, the sides of the body, and the tibia are very thick and leathery, with numerous deep wrinkles ; and the basal half of the interfemoral membrane (as far as to where the tail becomes free) possesses the same peculiarity. The wrinkles, in many places, cross the legs and forearms, but they are only observable on the upper surfaces of the membranes and limbs. This singular part of the cutaneous system is marked by a regular and decided outline, and can scarcely be said at any place to graduate into the smooth (and very thin) membrane of the wings. Its extent is pretty well indicated by the hairy portions of the membranes in the genus Lasiurus, excepting that it only occupies one half of the interfemoral membrane." No conjectures are hazarded as to the use of this peculiarly thickened and differently coloured portion of membrane, which occurs in this species alone. I find that this thickened portion of the wing-membrane is analogous to the thickened portion of the anterior wings in Hemiptera and to the elytra of the Coleoptera. Among the many peculiarities of structure presented by M. tuber- |
