TS99-] Ai^COCK. — The Hairy-aimed Bat. 171 



Mr. Barrington then sent a.iother specimen, which appears 

 to have gone to the British Museum, to await Dr. Dobson's 

 inspection, who wrote again to Mr. Barrington before he had 

 examined the bat as follows : — 



"October 18, 1S98. 

 Dear Sir, 

 " I write on the back of Mr. Harting's reply to my letter, which gives 

 you the information you ask for [i.e., the fate of this last specimen]. I 

 have lost the locality of the four bats you sent me some time ago, and 

 which, if not examples of immature individuals, appear to me to represent 

 a form intermediate between V. noctula and V. Lcislcri. I am therefore 

 very anxious to obtain additional specimens, for it would be most 

 interesting to find a new species of mammal in Ireland. The specimen 

 you sent cannot be determined until dead, as it would be necessary to 

 examine its teeth. 



" Believe me, 



" Yours very truly, 



" G. E. Dobson." 



Dr, Dobson's untimely death, so much regretted by the 

 world of science, prevented further investigation at the time; 

 but apparently the examination of adult specimens has 

 not confirmed these speculations, as Mr. De Winton, of the 

 British Museum, to whom I wrote for information, tells me 

 that he sees no difference between English and Irish 

 individuals of this species. 



It is not my intention in these papers to take any part either 

 in this controversy or in the still more thorny question of 

 nomenclature, so I will merely add that there seems to be very 

 insufficient evidence at the present time for admitting the 

 Noctule as an Irish species. 



The habits of the Hairy-armed Bat are interesting in many 

 ways. The earliest date on which it w r as seen in the spring 

 of 1899 was April 21st — many flying on April 24th — both 

 observations being made at Bray, Co. Wicklow, by Dr. B- B. 

 Knox. None were seen earlier, though on April 16th I looked 

 for them with particular care. 



The last day in the autumn of 1898 was September 16th ; no 

 observations were taken for the next few days, but on 

 September 26th, though both the Pipistrelle and Daubenton's 

 Bat were seen, the Hairy-armed Bat had retired. 



A 2 



