xi 
Notice of some rare Bats, from the neighbourhood of Glouces- 
ter and Cheltenham. 
By W. V. Guisz, F.L.S., F.G.S. 
I have the pleasure of bringing to your notice to-day three 
Bats, which are deserving of registration upon the records of our 
Society, not only inasmuch as they may serve for the commence- 
ment of a series illustrative of our local Cheiroptera, but because 
they are all of somewhat unusual occurrence, and one, V. mysta- 
cimus, is amongst the rarest of our indigenous species. 
The three examples to which I allude are Vespertilio natterert 
and mystacinus, and Rhinolophus hipposideros. For the first- 
named species I am indebted to Nathaniel Skelton, the well-known 
taxidermist, of Cheltenham, who procured it in the neighbourhood 
of that town; while I had myself the good fortune to obtain the 
two others at Elmore, about five miles from Gloucester. Of these 
V. mystacinus is by far the rarest; and as but little is known of 
its habits, the story of its capture may not be without interest. 
In the beginning of the last month (May), I had for some days 
observed a small bat to issue from between the fissures of some 
old masonry which surrounds a pool in my garden, at Elmore, 
and, in the full blaze of the mid-day sun, to hawk over the surface 
of the water, flitting backwards and forwards with all the restless 
activity of its race. After several ineffectual attempts at captur- 
ing the little animal, I at length succeeded in enclosing it in my 
insect-net. A careful comparison with the descriptions and plates 
in Professor Bell’s work on the British Mammalia seemed to 
justify me in referring the bat to the rare V. Daubentonii, of which 
only four examples are recorded in the above-named work as hay- 
ing been met with in this country. Being desirous, however, of 
obtaining the opinion of some naturalist more competent to form 
a correct judgment upon the matter than myself, I availed myself 
of the opportunity presented by a meeting of the Linnean Society 
to submit my specimens to the inspection of Professor Bell him- 
self, who returned them duly named and labelled, and accompanied 
by a note in which occurs the following passage :—“I have ex- 
amined your bats with care, and feel confident I have rightl 
named them; they are not common. I was a little doubtful 
at first about Mystacinus, but I feel now almost certain that I am 
right in so naming the specimen—this is the rarest of them—but 
in so many respects it resembles Daubentonii, that, but for its 
smaller size, it might be mistaken for it.” 
Now, having regard to the advantage attaching to the identifi- 
cation of these bats by so eminent an authority as Professor Bell, 
and at the same time, keeping in view the object towards which 
it especially behoyes us as local naturalists to direct our attention, 
