The Rev. L. JENyNs on the Common Bat of Pennant. 167 
collecting, sometimes in prodigious quantities, wherever from 
the falling out of the mortar they are enabled to insinuate their 
bodies, and flocking thither, as well for the purpose of conceal- 
ment during the day-time in the summer months, as for that of 
undergoing those more profound slumbers which are occasion- 
ally superinduced by the severities of winter. 
Again: It is a common remark, that the brumal torpidity of 
the Bat is liable to be broken through by a sudden increase of 
temperature, and that these animals appear abroad at all seasons 
of the year, if the thermometer be above 44°: but as far as my 
observation goes, this takes place much more frequently at the 
commencement of winter than towards its conclusion ; and it 
would seem to me, that though it requires a very reduced tempe- 
rature,—probably one inch below freezing point,—to throw them 
into a state of complete torpidity, yet that when this has fairly 
taken place, one, much higher than would have proved suffi- 
cient to have put them on wing before its commencement, is 
necessary to awaken them from their slumbers. Accordingly, 
we find the Bat showing itself every evening ‘throughout the 
months of November and December, if the weather be mild and 
open, and I have even noticed it flying with its usual activity 
when the thermometer has been down at 38°; and this will often 
continue to be the case till the setting-in of those severe frosts 
which usually occur soon after the commencement of the new 
year: but after the force of the winter has begun to abate, I have 
in vain looked for the Bat on wing till the beginning or near the 
middle of March, — the temper bas often 
risen considerably above 50° of Fahrenheit uu ; 
It is also worthy of note, that the whole T. | ES nec 
vation applies only to the species under consideration. The 
Noctule and the Long-eared Bat show themselves for a longer or 
shorter period during the summer months, ae to circum- 
VOL. XVI. Zz Ec  Sstances ; 
