1894-95-] Danbentoris Bat ( Vespertilio Danbentoni). 131 



Yl.—DAUBENTON'S BAT (VESPEETILIO 

 DAUBENTONI), 



AS OBSERVED IN GLEN DOCHART, PERTHSHIRE. 

 By Mr SYMINGTON GRIEVE. 



{Read Jan. 23, 1895.) 



Between Luib and Crianlarich stations on the Oban railway 

 the line passes up Glen Dochart and along the shores of two 

 lochs. The first and longer of these is Loch Ure (or, accord- 

 ing to the spelling in the Ordnance Survey map, Loch Iubhair) ; 

 and the other, with its prettily wooded island and ruined castle, 

 is Loch Dochart. The whole district is so well known for its 

 associations with St Fillan, the Black Campbell, and Sir 

 Walter Scott's hero Bob Boy, and for its botanical interest, 

 that I need hardly have written these introductory lines were 

 it not that many of those who hurry through Glen Dochart on 

 the railway, or at most only spend a day in passing, leave 

 under the impression that there is but one loch in the glen, 

 and that it is called Loch Dochart. The fishers who visit the' 

 lochs know better ; but they are so few in numbers compared to 

 the multitudes who merely pass by, that it is as well to give 

 the foregoing short explanation. 



The two lochs are connected by a deep, slow-running por- 

 tion of the river Fillan, the waters of which, after passing- 

 through Loch Ure, leave it by the river Dochart. On the 

 north-western shores of each loch the spurs of Creag Liuragan 

 descend at several points in precipitous rocks into their waters. 

 It is at such places where deep fissures occur in the rocks that 

 the bats are to be found. They seem to prefer those fissures 

 that are found in the face of the small cliffs that descend per- 

 pendicularly into, or in some cases overhang, the water. As 

 such cracks in the rocks can only be examined from a boat, the 

 bats are quite protected from the intrusion of most other animals. 

 They, however, have one or more of their colonies established 

 high up in a cliff, the foot of which can be reached from the 



vol. in. K 



