Genus Myotis
Three pairs of premolars are present in each jaw in Myotis, so that the total
number of teeth is 38. The upper incisors are nearly equal; the outer incisor
points downwards or curves slightly outwards, and the inner incisor is directed
inwards. The ears are long and narrow— usually about the length of the head—
and the tragus is narrow and somewhat pointed, straight or curved slightly
outwards. The outer margin of the ear springs either from opposite the inner
margin of the tragus or from a slight distance in front, but not from the angle
of the mouth. The head is long, the crown elevated, and the muzzle pointed and
clothed with hair; the glandular swellings are so slight as to be scarcely noticeable.
The nostrils are simple and crescentic; the post-calcaneal lobe very small
or absent. Generally speaking, the members of this genus are less robust than
those of Pipistrellus.
Representatives of this genus are found in all parts of the temperate and
tropical regions in both hemispheres. Four species occur in our Islands—
Daubentoni, Nattereri, Bechsteini, and mystacinus—and two others have gained a
place in the British list on very insufficient evidence: these are Myotis and
dasycneme. There is a family likeness between the four British species, but the
characteristic points— as shown in the illustrations— are sufficiently distinct to
prevent confusion.
D a u b e n t o n ’s B a t
Myotis Daubentoni, Leisler.
Vespertilio Daubentonii, Leisler, in Kuhl, ‘ Deutsch. Fled.’ p. 51 (1817).
Vespertilio emarginatus, Jenyns, ‘ Brit. Vert.’ p. 26 (1835).
Vespertilio adilis, Jenyns, ‘ Ann. Nat. Hist.’ p. 73 (1839).
Myotis Daubentoni, Miller, ‘ Ann. Mag.’ ser. vi. vol. xx. p. 379 (1897).
Characters.— Daubenton’s Bat has not infrequently been confused with Natterer’s
and the Whiskered Bats; it, however, possesses very much larger feet than either
of these species, and the wing membrane arises from the metatarsus, which
distinguishes it from the Whiskered Bat, where the membrane springs from the
base of the outer toe, while the tip of the tail, extending about iVth of an inch
beyond the interfemoral membrane, and the absence of the lash of hairs on the