ON BATS. IQJ 



torpid state, clinging to the roof. It is described thus: 

 •« The length from the nose to the tip of the tail is three 

 inches and a half: the extent fourteen. At the end of the 

 nose is an upright membrane m the form of a horse-shoe. 

 Ears large, broad at their base, inclining backwards, but 

 want the little or internal ear. The colour of the upper 

 part o^. the body is a deep cinereous; of the lower 

 whitifli/' 



Doctor Shaw, in his General Zoology, has nearly fol- 

 lowed Mr. Pennant, but adds, " There is said to be a 

 greater and smaller variety ; perhaps the male and female : 

 the greater is above three inches and a half long from the 

 nose to the tip of the tail: the extent pf the wings above 

 fourteen." 



With respect to the smaller horse-shoe bat, nothing Smaller. 

 more appears to be known than that it is inferior in size, 

 but in other respects similar ; from which may be inferred, 

 that it is very little known, and it has not, to my know- 

 ledge, been recorded as indigenous to England. It is 

 therefore with no small degree of satisfaction I have to an- 

 nounce, that it is by no means uncommon in particular si- 

 tuations; and I have the pleasure of congratulating the 

 zoologist, that fortunate circumftances have enabled me to 

 put the long unsettled opinion with respect to these two 

 bats beyond all possible doubt; having lately taken a con- A distinct 

 siderable number of both species, in each of which the s P ecies » 

 sexual distinction was evident. But to render the subject 

 more clear and incontrovertible, I shall proceed, by giving 

 a. description of the lesser species, and endeavour clearly to 

 define the characteristic distinction between these two very 

 analogous animals. In order, however, to prevent future 

 confusion, I propose that the least of these should be called 

 vcspertilio minutus, leaving the other in full possesion of the 

 original Linnsean trivial name of ferrum-cquinum. 



Vcspertilio minntus f 



Length scarcely two inches and three quarters from the Described, 

 tip of the nose to the end of the tail, of which the latter is 

 full three fourths of an inch : extent of the wings nine in- 

 ches 



