450 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 84 



EPTESICUS FUSCUS FUSCUS (Beauvois) 



Big Brown Bat 



Four specimens were collected by Thaddeus Siirber and Wirt 

 Robinson during April and May 1897 in the southeastern corner of 

 the State. A male taken in Preston County during March 1928 by 

 A. B. Brooks weighed 12 grams. This bat frequently gets into houses 

 and outbuildings during the fall and winter months. It also hibernates 

 in hollow trees and crevices in rocks, as well as in caves. The brown 

 bat has been taken by A. M. Reese (1934, pp. 45, 47) in Cornwall's 

 Cave in Preston County and in Smoke Hole Cave in Pendleton 

 County. 



Greenbrier County: White Sulphur Springs, 4. 



Preston County: Cheat River, 1; Cronwell Cave (recorded by A. B. Brooks, 

 1929, p. 541). 



CORYNORHINUS RAFINESQUD RAFINESQUII (Lesson) 



Big-eared Bat 



Though actual records are restricted to Pendleton, Randolph, and 

 Preston Counties, this bat should occur in caves throughout the State. 

 The big-eared bat, as the name implies, is readily recognized by its 

 unusually long ears, equaling about one-third of the total length of the 

 animal. The ears are connected at the base across the forehead. On 

 June 13, 1933, A. M. Reese collected four females, each nursing one 

 3^oung, in Pendleton County. Most of the individuals listed below 

 were found hanging head downward either in a cave or in dark crevices 

 in rocks. This bat, according to A. M. Reese (1934, p. 47) has been 

 taken also in The Sinks Cave no. 1 in Randolph County and in 

 Seneca Caverns in Pendleton County. 



Pendleton Covmty: Brushy Run, 1; Cave Mountain Cave, 1; Upper Tract, 8. 



Family URSIDAE 



EUARCTOS AMERICANUS AMERICANUS (Pallas) 



Black Bear 



Black bears appear to have ranged over the whole State at the time 

 of settlement. Bear meat formed a substantial part of the staple diet 

 of hunters and settlers. Of the many records, a few have been 

 selected to indicate the extent of the former range of the species. On 

 May 9, 1751, Christopher Gist (Darlington, 1893, pp. 65, 135) killed 

 a bear on Indian Creek in Monroe County. Gist also killed bears 

 during January 1752 at the head of Fish Creek in Marshall County 

 (Darlington, 1893, pp. 72, 142) and on March 5, 1752, on Fishing 

 Creek in Wetzel County (pp. 76, 145). In May 1765 Colonel Croghan 

 (1831, p. 260) reported that bears were abundant along the Ohio River 

 between the mouth of the Little Kanawha River and the Big Bend. 

 According to McWhorter (1915, p. 80) the early settlers killed many 

 bears along Hackers Creek in Harrison County. 



