SENSES OF BATS — VESEY-FITZGERALD 321 



support from the extra ordinar3'' skin development on the muzzles of 

 these bats. While the purpose of this appendage, which in some species 

 attains an astonishing complexity, is not known, it has been suggested 

 that it is concerned with directing the squeak into a narrow beam so 

 that the bat's knowledge of its position is greatly increased. Be that 

 as it may, I have no doubt from long personal observation that the 

 horseshoes have a much finer appreciation of position than other 

 British bats, and especially is this so in the case of the greater horse- 

 shoe. Indeed, this species is quite uncanny in its judgment of distance. 

 Bats normally hang head downward, suspended by the toes. It is the 

 usual practice for bats to land head upward and then to shuffle round 

 until they can get a grip with the toes, but the greater horseshoe is 

 accustomed to turning a somersault in the air and gripping straight- 

 way with the toes, landing, in other words, in the head-downward 

 position. Very rarely indeed have I seen a bat miss its hold, and there 

 appears to be no slackening of speed as the resting-place is approached. 

 Some of my captive greater horseshoes used to sleep under a sideboard, 

 and when they were hanging there was little more than a couple of 

 inches clearance from the floor, yet they would fly under the sideboard, 

 turn their somersaults with absolute certainty, and hang by the toes. 

 And many, many times have I watched this acrobatic performance 

 when they have been hanging from picture rails and so forth. 



There is a marked difference in the structure of the ear in the 

 Rhinolophidae and in the Vespertilionidae. In the former the pinna 

 is comparatively simple in build, but in the bats w ithout nose-leaves 

 the ear is a much more complex structure, characterized by a great 

 development of a lobe known as the tragus. This is especially well 

 seen in the long-eared {Plecotus auritus), in which species it stands 

 up like a second pinna. It has been suggested that the tragus is in 

 some way connected with echo-location, and the fact that the bats 

 with nose-leaves have no tragus while the bats with the tragus have 

 no nose-leaves is surely significant. It would appear that the two 

 developments must in some way perform similar functions. 



It is, I think, noteworthy that the long-eared, in which there is 

 such a marked development of the tragus, is in comparison with 

 other bats of the same group a master of flight in confined quarters. 

 Most bats, when flying to their feeding grounds, do so at a consider- 

 able height ; the long-eared does so very close to the ground, often at a 

 height of no more than a few inches, and the flight is fast, direct, 

 and confident. Furthermore, the long-eared captures comparatively 

 few insects in flight, preferring to pick them off the leaves of bushes 

 and trees, a habit which entails the nicest judgment of distance. 



Two other British bats, Natterer's {Myotis nattereri) and the 

 whiskered {M. mystacinus), have the habit of picking their prey 



