THE BATS 



The colour of the great horseshoe bat above is reddish- 

 gray, the fur being paler at the root than at the tip. The belly 

 and under parts of the body are very pale gray. The cartilage of 

 the ears and of the nose leaf is pale brownish flesh-colour, and 

 the flying membrane is dark grayish-brown. 



The female of this and other Rhinolophids exhibits a pair of 

 warts on the skin of the abdomen which correspond internally 

 to the front of the pubic bones. These warts have been taken 

 by some to represent a disused pair of inguinal mammae which 

 are no longer functional. 



The horseshoe bats fly high when hunting for insects, and 

 live a good deal on cockchafers. The wings are broad, and in 

 flight this bat may be told from other species by the greater width 

 of^the flying membrane. The horseshoe bat appears rather late 

 in the evening, and affects the neighbourhood of trees, flying 

 round and round the foliage to snap up beetles and other insects 

 of good size. When it retires, however, to rest during the day 

 or "to hibernate, its favourite haunts are ancient buildings and 

 caves. It is estimated that it has continued to inhabit the large 

 cave known as Kent's Hole, near Torquay, continuously since 

 the age of the mammoth. In this cave its remains are found 

 going back to the Pleistocene period. Its present distribution in 

 these islands is confined to the south and west of England. It 

 ranges from Devonshire and Gloucester to the Isle of Wight, 

 Kent, and Essex, and is occasionally met with in the Midlands. 

 Hitherto it has been entirely unknown in Northern England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland. Outside England the greater horseshoe 

 bat extends its range over most parts of Europe and Africa, and 

 of Asia north of the Himalayas. 



Rhinolophus hipposiderus. The Lesser Horseshoe Bat 

 This is a smaller animal than the previous species. It 

 measures a trifle over ij in. for the head and body, and just 

 over an inch for the tail. The measurement across the wings in 

 the larger specimens is 9 in. The teeth are the same in number 

 as the greater horseshoe bat, but the first premolar in the upper 



