XV. 



NOTES ON SOME HERTFORDSHIRE MAMMALIA. 



By T. Vaughan Roberts. 



Read at Watford, 2Ut March, 1893. 



Mr notes on the Mammalia of Hertfoi'dshiro consist of nothing 

 more than short references to species in the county, and more par- 

 tieuhirly in this immediate neighbourhood, which have come under 

 my own observation. None (with the exception of the black variety 

 of Mas decumanus) can be considered as rare, but possibly it may 

 be of interest, in one or two cases, to learn the fact of their occur- 

 rence. I have not attempted to give a list of all the Mammalia 

 which have been recorded. The ' Transactions ' of the Society fur- 

 nish particulars of the most interesting occurrences which have been 

 noticed in former years, and no doubt some day a naturalist will 

 arise who will be able to give us something like a complete list. 

 The county does not afford a promising field, it is far too near 

 London, far too densely populated, and too much cultivated to 

 make it probable that any of our rarer quadrupeds (with possible 

 exceptions among the bats) would be likely to be met with. 



All my specimens, the skins of which will be exhibited, are of 

 animals obtained in this locality, and those which are mounted on 

 cloth have been prepared for me by Mr. Bowers, of Watford, and 

 I tliink reflect great credit on his skill as a taxidermist.* 



The first in order of the Mammalia are the bats. The one I 

 exhibit was knocked down by my son in his bedroom at Verulam 

 House. It is the long-eared bat {Plecotus auritus), a common 

 species, and one of the three which, as mentioned by Mr. Rooper 

 in his paper on ' Bats and some other Beasts,' would be likely to 

 be noticed. I have no doubt from enquiries I have made that the 

 great bat or noctule {Scotopkilus noctula), another of the species 

 mentioned, is found about "Watford, but I have not succeeded in 

 obtaining a specimen. The remaining species, the common bat or 

 pipistrelle {Scotopkilus pijiistrellus), referred to by him, occurs 

 everywhere. As stated by Mr. Rooper, the order of the Cheiro- 

 ptera is an extremely interesting one, but it is a veiy difficult one to 

 study. It is by no means easy to identify the various species, and 

 exceedingly difficult (at least I find it so) to obtain specimens. I 

 have tried in various quarters but have so far met with no success. 

 I should be grateful for any bats that appear to belong to any other 

 species than the common one, and would endeavour to get them 

 properly identified. I may observe that the long-eared bat is, as was 

 remarked by Mr. Rooper, one of the most interesting of the family. 

 It appears to be very easily tamed, becoming familiar with those 

 who feed and fondle it, almost from the first. Professor Bell 



* These remarks, and otliers of a similar nature, refer to specimens exhibited 

 by the auth(jr at the meeting, during the reading of his paper. — Ed. 



VOL. VII. — PAKT VI. 13 



