Vol. XXII, pp. 45-48 March 10, 1909 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW BAT FROM NICKAJACK 

 CAVE, TENNESSEE. 



BY ARTHUR H. HOWELL. 



The presence of a colony of bats in Nickajack Cave was reported 

 by Mr. W. P. Hay in an article on the crustacean fauna of the 

 cave, iniblished in 1903.* Two specimens in alcohol were for- 

 warded by him to the National Museum, where they were referred 

 provisionally to Myotis velifer. In order to secure a series of 

 skins of these bats, I visited the cave on August 31, 1908. Pene- 

 trating for a distance of about 300 yards from the entrance, 

 numbers of bats were seen in the dim light of a torch, flying 

 about the large room.t In a few minutes I discovered a cluster 

 of bats, apparently as large as a man's head, hanging from the 

 ceiling of the cave. Discharging one barrel of my shot-gun at 

 them, large numbers fell to the ground and the rest took wing. 

 I picked up about 70 as the result of this shot, and many 

 wounded ones escaped by swimming away in the stream which 

 flows through the cave. At the entrance to the cave bats were 

 heard squeaking in the crevices in the ceiling, and a few addi- 

 tional specimens were secured by shooting into the crevices. I 

 v^as informed by persons living in the vicinity that at dusk the 

 bats may be seen coming out of the cave in immense numbers. 

 They also stated that the bats sometimes cling in clusters to the 

 sides of the cave, where they may be picked off by hand. All 

 the specimens taken here were of one species, which, on com- 

 parison with other species of Myotis, proves to be new. It may 

 be characterized as follows: 



* Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. XXV, p. 418, 1903. 



t Mr. Hay, in his description of the cave (1. c, pp. 417-419) gives the dimensions of 

 this room as " 100 feet wide and long, and 60 feet high" ; the size of the entrance is given 

 as " 200 feet wide and 75 feet liigh." 



6— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXII, 1909. (45) 



