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THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IRISH BATS. 



BY N. H. ALCOCK, M.D., AND C. B. MOFFAT. 



The L,ong-eared Bat, 

 Plecotus auritus, L,innaeus. 



The subject of the present paper is, perhaps, the best known 

 of our Irish Bats, and the species is unmistakable even to 

 the most casual observer. 



Dobson's measurements are : — 



The most interesting peculiarity is the enormous length 

 of the ear, which almost equals that of head and body 

 together ! Yet when the animal is asleep the ear is nearly 

 invisible, being folded back and covered by the wing- 

 membrane. The inner earlet, or tragus, is at such times 

 liable to be mistaken for the true ear. 



The fur is dark at the base of the hairs, a light shining 

 brown at the tips on the dorsal surface, pale ash or dirty 

 white on the ventral; it is long, and beautifully fine in texture. 

 Two observers have recorded albino specimens (Baring, 

 xxxiii. ; Oldham, xxxiv.) As noted by Jameson, there is 

 a buff-coloured example, of Irish origin, in the Dublin 

 Museum. 



In treating of the habits of the I^ong-eared Bat, it is necessary 

 to discard much that has been previously written, as the par- 

 ticular observations on which general statements have been 

 founded are not on record; and some of the general statements 



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