718 A. E. Verrill — Tlte Bermuda Islands. 



Two species of bats are known to occur here apparently during 

 their autumnal migrations, but }'et they may have been brought in 

 the holds of vessels. Others may hereafter be observed. The most 

 common is the Hoary or Gray Bat {Atalapha cinerea (Beauv.) 

 Peters ; Allen,* p. 155, pi. xxix-xxxi = Vespertilio prxunosus Say, 

 and in Jones, ls76, and Hurdis = Zasiurus cinereus in Jones, 1884). 

 Several instances of the occurrence of this species are given by 

 Hurdis and others, but only in autumn. 



The other, which is much more rare, is the Silver-haired Bat 

 {Las<<»n/teris noctivagans (Lee.) Peters; Allen, 1893, p. 105, pi. xii; 

 xiv = Scotophilia noctivagans in Jones, 1884). This was recorileil 

 as taken alive by Hurdis, Oct. 8, 1850. 



It is singular that there are no native bats known here, for tin- 

 numerous caves would seem to afford excellent homes for them. 

 Some of the earliest writers mention the occurrence of bats, but they 

 were probably only the migratory species named above, though the 

 season of the year was not sriven. Possibly there were resident 

 species at that time. 



d. — The Wild or Half- wild Cats. 



Iu the accounts quoted above, Strachy, Hughes, and Governor 

 Butler (pp. 712— V 1 5) describe the great abundance of feral cats that 

 came out of the wood to the settlements, when the rats died out. as 

 an unexpected and surprising event. They evidently believed that 

 the cats had been on the islands before the settlement in 1612, and 

 that they had been living there in the feral condition, feeding on the 

 rats. This may have been correct, and if so it would go to prove 

 that the rats had also been there longer than was then supposed. 



It is mentioned that the party shipwrecked there in loo 1 .) saved 

 their ship dog and also some live hogs. (See Strachy's account, 

 quoted above.) Therefore they probably also saved their cats, it' 

 they had any, which is almost certain to have been the ease. These 

 cats escaping into the woods and increasing as they do there, might 

 have given rise, in the nine years, to the Luge number observed in 

 mis. Possibly eats may have been introduced still earlier, like the 

 hogs, but we have no record of any being there in L609. Doubtless 

 the settlers carried eats there in [612, and perhaps every year after- 

 wards, so that their numbers need not have been surprising. 



* Harrison Allen, M.D., Monograph of the Bats of North America, Bulletin 

 U. S. National Museum, No. 43, 1893. 



