DUBLIlf NATURAL HJST0B7 SOCIETY. 155 



I cannot refrain from noticing the happy opportunity which Mr. 

 Foot has enjoyed aa regards his discovery, nor the c*qually happy use 

 which he has made of it, pursuing his investigations in the true spirit 

 of a naturalist, carefully noting every circumsttmce likely to throw hght 

 on the habits of the bats, and cautiously investigating, again and again, 

 the accuracy of each observation, and at the same time carrying on these 

 researches in a humane manner, avoiding that indiscriminate destruc- 

 tion of life which is too often, and justly, cast up as a slur and blot on 

 the study of natural history and its investigators. 



Bats, of all the mammtds inhabiting our islands, afford to naturalists 

 the fewest opportunities of examination, so that of most species the 

 mere capture is an event; and few of those who have the good fortune 

 to do this enjoy a chance of studying their habits, or, if they have the 

 chance, have the courage to face the dirt and danger of imderground 

 research in the indefatigable manner the author of the paper referred to 

 has done. 



I know of no branch of mammalology in a more unsatisfactory state 

 than the distribution of our bats. As a general rule, every bat seen 

 flying about is put down as the common bat, and transferred to the na- 

 turalist's note-book as the pipistrelle. This is evidently a great error. 

 In certain parts of Clare, as we have learned to-night, the lesser horse- 

 shoe bat must be a common species. In parts of Boldare, I showed, 

 some years ago, that Daubenton*8 bat was the commonest species ; and 

 it is most probable that, when research has been made and duly 

 carried out, it will be found that other species are equally as common 

 as the pipistrelle. Taking the average number of bats which have 

 come imdcr my own notice, I do not find it commoner than the long- 

 eared bat ; and none but a very practised eye could distinguish these 

 two species on the wing, and, in the case of others, even the most prac- 

 tised eye must fail I have, therefore, under these circumstances, re- 

 jected every notice which was not confirmed by actual examination of 

 the specimens ; as my object is to furnish authentic records concerning 

 species, of whose specific characters there can be no doubt, in every case 

 referring to some well-known standard authority, so that, should it af- 

 terwards appear that tlie names attached to the species by British au- 

 thors are wrong, the observations may be easily referred to the proper 

 species, and thus remain intact, as far as comparison between type 

 species is concerned. The authority for nomenclature, &c., used in this 

 paper has, with one exception, been Professor Bell's work on "British 

 Quadrupeds," but the characters in every case are drawn from actual 

 specimens. I preface my remarks on the several species with a few 

 observations on the general history of the progress of their discovery in 

 Ireland, and of the genus llhinolophus in particular. 



Until within a comparatively recent period two species only of 

 Cheiroptera (the pipistrelle and the long-eared bat) were believed to 

 inhabit Ireland ; to which, in 1838, Daubenton's bat was added by the 

 Ordnance Survey collectors, a single specimen having been taken in 

 Londonderry. As this was identified by the Rev. Mr. Jenyns, there 



