DUBLIK NATTBAL HISTOBI SOaETT. 161 



nating season, or does it occur at all seasons? Bell states it occurs 

 among the female Pipistrelles. The absence of other species in these 

 caves is also worth noting. 



Mr. Foot's observations on the bat's power of rising from a plane 

 surface corroborates Bell's remarks, that this power is probably common 

 to all bats. Bell records it of V. Nattereri, the Pipistrelle, and Pleco- 

 tu8 auritus ; and I can vouch for it myself in F. DaubentonUf and this 

 species. The habits of this bat seemed otherwise, to me, sluggish, but 

 probably the specimens were half torpid when they reached me. 



The figures of the species given in the ** Fauna Italica" leave little 

 to be desired as far as the species is concerned; but it is a pity the de- 

 tails of the nose-leaf are not more clearly given, as this affords one of 

 the best characters for distinguishing this species from the Greater Horse- 

 shoe. The following is a comparative statement of the differences be- 

 tween my Clare specimens, and a Crimean specimen of the Great Horse- 

 shoe bat captured on a sentry's bayonet at Balaklava. The most strik- 

 ing difference is size, the Greater Horse-shoe being nearly double the 

 size of the Lesser. The spread of wing of each is as follows : — Greater 

 Horse-shoe, 13 to 14 inches; Lesser Horse- shoe, 8 to 9 inches. The 

 colour of the greater horse-shoe is a yellowish-red on the back, nearly 

 white beneath. The lesser horse-shoe is a blackish gray — almost black 

 above, nearly pure white beneath. The ears of the greater horse- shoe 

 have but a very slight emargination at the top and base, while in the 

 lesser horse-shoe these are both strongly marked, and the lobe at the 

 base of the ears is much larger in proportion ; both possess the trans- 

 verse lines on the ear, but in the greafer horse- shoe these extend over a 

 greater extent of the ear inwards. They also remain distinct in this 

 species when dried, while in Ith. hippostderos they generally disappear, 

 and are hence absent in museum specimens. The leaf on the nose dif- 

 fers in the two species. In the greater horse-shoe the posterior leaf is 

 dilated at its extremity, so that the lower extremity is heart-shaped, 

 and the little circular pits which are situated here are very promi- 

 nent. In the lesser horse-shoe the base of the posterior lobe is scarcely, if 

 at all, dilated, so that the the appendage is lanceolate, and the circular 

 pits are scarcely to be found without some search, and are never so pro- 

 minent as in the other species. On the other hand, the anterior basal 

 portion of the leaf is proportionally more dilated in the lesser horse-shoe, 

 covering nearly the entire of the nose. The eyes are extremely small, 

 And so deeply sunk in the fur as not to be visible without much research. 

 Irish specimens have been deposited in the National Museum, Kildare- 

 street (male and female), Natural History Society, Brunswick-street, 

 and the Belfast Natural History Society's Museum. 



It is seemingly the common bat of that part of Clare where it occurs. 



From its British and continental distribution it would appear to be 

 a southern type. 



bourhood told me that the hats are only found there in the winter : so that it appears this 

 species in the summer forsakes its winter quarters. — J. R. K., Avgutt 12, 1859. 



