1 899-] Ai^COCK. — The Natural History of Irish Bats. 35 



cockchafer, Rhizophagus solsiitialis (Harting, viii.) ; the 

 common chafer, Melolontha vulgaris, and the Watchman beetle, 

 Geotrupes stercor&rius (Patterson, xv.). 



The Eong-eared Bat has been observed to feed on species of 



Tamiocampa (Harting, ix.) ; and wings of various moths, such 



as the Yellow Underwing Triphccna, the Silver Y Plusia 



gamma, and the Buff Ermine, Spilosoma lubricipcda have been 



found under its haunts (Aplin, i.). 



Mr. G. H. Carpenter, by adopting a different manoeuvre, 

 has ascertained accurately in at least one case the food of the 

 Hairy-armed Bat. He examined the contents of the stomach 

 of a .specimen of this species, which was placed in spirit 

 shortly after the animal was shot. He says in a letter, dated 

 November 16, 1898, " All the insect fragments are undoubtedly 

 referable to Diptera, and I have found a piece of wing, a foot, 

 and an antenna, which I can refer with confidence to Scato- 

 phaga stercoraria, the yellow-haired fly which one commonly 

 finds around heaps of dung." The importance of this method 

 is evident, and Mr. Carpenter's further researches in this 

 direction will be awaited with interest. 



It seems probable that all the bats in the British Isles 

 breed but once in the year, and have only one young one at a 

 time, born some time in the summer. It would follow logically 

 that the average life of an individual bat must be over two 

 years, otherwise the race would become extinct. Dr. G. K. 

 Dobson states that two young at a birth is the most that he 

 has ever observed in any species of the Chiroptera. 



Authors quoted. 

 I. Apun. O. V. (Food of Plecolus auritus). Zoologist (3), xhi., p. 

 382. 

 II. BorrER, W. (Habits of Vespertilio Daubentonii). Zoologist^ 

 1S74, pp. 4127, 4T2S. 

 III. Coward, T. A., and Oudham, C. The Mammalian Fauna of 

 Cheshire. Zoologist (3), xix., pp. i6r, 212, 247 



IV. Dobson, G. E. Catalogue of Chiroptera in the British Museum. 



London, 1878. 



V. Dowkkr, G. (Habits of Noctule). Zoologist (3), xv., p. 305. 



VI. Evans, W. The Whiskered Bat in Scotland. Amu Scot. Nat. Hist. 

 1893, p. 146. 

 VII. Grieve, S. (Haunts of Daubentou's Bat) t.c., 1S96. p. 57. 

 VIII. Harting, J. E. The Whiskered Bat. Zoologist (3), xii., pp. 161 

 and 441. 



