166 DTJBLIN NATUBA.L HISTOEY SOCIETr. 



can be no doubt of the correctness of the record, although the specimen 

 itself has been since lost. 



In a paper read by our present President, William Andrews, Esq., 

 in December, 1842, the following passage occiirs, which I quote from 

 " Saunders' News-Letter." The paper is entitled, " The capabilities 

 and advantages that Ireland offers to the Naturalist." Mr. Andrews, 

 speaking of the Cheiroptera, states : — ** Of the several genera, thirteen 

 species have been noticed in England, while but three are as yet re- 

 corded in Ireland, and but little is known' of their habits. One, of 

 large size and strong flight, has been observed in the neighbourhood of 

 Dingle. It is possibly the Noctule, the largest of British species, ex- 

 cept V. myotis {niurinus). The long- eared bat and the pipistrelle are 

 frequent. Doctor Scouler has in his possession a bat apparently unde- 

 scribed. It was captured near Dublin by Francis Whitla, Esq. It is 

 smaller in size than Plecotus auritus, of a reddish colour, and is re- 

 markable in having a single long hair depending from the sternum." — 

 (*' Saunders' News-Letter," December, 1842.) I regret I have been 

 unable to trace the last of these specimens. It was in Mr. Whitla's 

 possession up to a short time before his death. Of the other species 

 mentioned I have more to say anon. 



In 1845 Mr. G. Mangan captured a specimen of batterer's bat at the 

 Scalp, counties of Wicklow and Dublin. Professor M'Coy read a paper 

 on its occurrence, February 12, 1845, giving full details of the speci- 

 men which at present exists in our Museum. From the report of this 

 paper the following is quoted : — 



*' My friend, Mr. J. Hone, has recently mentioned to me the occur- 

 rence of a bat to a friend of his in Westmeath, which, fr*om the accurate 

 description of the curious leaf-like skin to the nose, must have belonged 

 to the genus Ehinolophus, or the horse-shoe bats — a genus not as yet 

 recorded in Ireland. From the size mentioned, it was most probably 

 the greater horse-shoe ; but as the specimen was gone to decay before 

 its value was known, the matter must remain unsettled." 



Mr. J. Hone said the bat had been described to him as having a 

 large-pointed appendage on its nose, which, with its great size, were so 

 remarkable that they were noticed at once by those who had seen it in 

 his friend's office, where it was fastened up till it fell to pieces. — (** Saun- 

 ders' News-letter," Februaiy 12, 1845.) 



In 1852, I myself procured a specimen of the whiskered bat, V. 

 mystacinus, at Feakle, county of Clare, which I presented to the Society, 

 in whose Proceedings, owing to a misapprehension of my remarks at 

 the time, it was positively recorded as V. Bauhentonii, although my 

 statement was that I thought it more nearly approached V. mystacimia 

 then unknown as Irish. 



In 1853, I was fortunate enough, in company with and through 

 the information of Frederick Haughton, Esq., to capture a number of 

 specimens of V. Dauhentonii, from a large colony of these animals at 

 Tankardstown Bridge, county of KUdai-e. At the time, through lack of 



