_Sept._, 1771.
Dear Sir,--The summer through I have seen but two of that large species
of bat which I call _vespertilio altivolans_, from its manner of feeding
high in the air; I procured one of them, and found it to be a male, and
made no doubt, as they accompanied together, that the other was a female;
but, happening in an evening or two to procure the other likewise, I was
somewhat disappointed, when it appeared to be also of the same sex. This
circumstance, and the great scarcity of this sort, at least in these
parts, occasions some suspicions in my mind whether it is really a
species, or whether it may not be the male part of the more known
species, one of which may supply many females, as is known to be the case
in sheep and some other quadrupeds. But this doubt can only be cleared
by a farther examination, and some attention to the sex, of more
specimens: all that I know at present is, that my two were amply
furnished with the parts of generation, much resembling those of a boar.
In the extent of their wings they measured fourteen inches and a half,
and four inches and a half from the nose to the tip of the tail; their
heads were large, their nostrils bilobated, their shoulders broad and
muscular, and their whole bodies fleshy and plump. Nothing could be more
sleek and soft than their fur, which was of a bright chestnut colour;
their maws were full of food, but so macerated that the quality could not
be distinguished; their livers, kidneys, and hearts were large, and their
bowels covered with fat. They weighed each, when entire, full one ounce
and one drachm. Within the ear there was somewhat of a peculiar
structure that I did not understand perfectly; but refer it to the
observation of the curious anatomist. These creatures sent forth a very
rancid and offensive smell.