XI 



Notice of some rare Bats, from the neighbourhood of Glouces- 

 ter and Cheltenham. 



By W. V. GUISE, F.L.S., F.G.S. 



I have the pleasure of bringing to your notice to-day three 

 Bats, which are deserving of registration upon the records of our 

 Society, not only inasmuch as they may serve for the commence- 

 ment of a series illustrative of our local Cheiroptera, but because 

 they are all of somewhat unusual occurrence, and one, V. mysta- 

 cinus, is amongst the rarest of our indigenous species. 



The three examples to which I allude are Vespertilio nattereri 

 and mystacinus, and Rhinolophus hipposideros. For the first- 

 named species I am indebted to Nathaniel Skelton, the well-known 

 taxidermist, of Cheltenham, who procured it in the neighbourhood 

 of that town ; while I had myself the good fortune to obtain the 

 two others at Elm ore, about five miles from Gloucester. Of these 

 V. mystacinus is by far the rarest ; and as but little is known of 

 its habits, the story of its capture may not be without interest. 

 In the beginning of the last month (May), I had for some days 

 observed a small bat to issue from between the fissures of some 

 old masonry which surrounds a pool in my garden, at Elmore, 

 and, in the full blaze of the mid-day s-un, to hawk over the surface 

 of the water, flitting backwards and forwards with all the restless 

 activity of its race. After several ineffectual attempts at captur- 

 ing the little animal, I at length succeeded in enclosing it in my 

 insect-net. A careful comparison with the descriptions and plates 

 in Professor Bell's work on the British Mammalia seemed to 

 justify me in referring the bat to the rare V. Daubentonii, of which 

 only four examples are recorded in the above-named work as hav- 

 ing been met with in this country. Being desirous, however, of 

 obtaining the opinion of some naturalist more competent to form 

 a correct judgment upon the matter than myself, I availed myself 

 of the opportunity presented by a meeting of the Linnsean Society 

 to submit my specimens to the inspection of Professor Bell him- 

 self, who returned them duly named and labelled, and accompanied 

 by a note in which occurs the following passage : " I have ex- 

 amined your bats with care, and feel confident I have rightly 

 named them; they are not common. I was a little doubtful 

 at first about Mystacinus, but I feel now almost certain that I am 

 right in so naming the specimen this is the rarest of them but 

 in so many respects it resembles Daulentonii, that, but for its 

 smaller size, it might be mistaken for it." 



Now, having regard to the advantage attaching to the identifi- 

 cation of these bats by so eminent an authority as Professor Bell, 

 and at the same time, keeping in view the object towards which 

 it especially behoves us as local naturalists to direct our attention, 



