Rhinolophus. mammalia. CHEIROPTERA. 



1. CHEIROPTERA. BATS. 



A HE animals of this group feed on insects, chiefly moths, 

 which they hunt in the evening. They sleep during the day. 

 Migrate or become torpid during the winter. Bring forth two 

 at a birth. In the British species, there is only one bony joint 

 in the fore finger, without nails, and two in the rest. The tail 

 is included in the interfemoral membrane ; and the summits of 

 the grinders have conical points. All the species of the follow- 

 ing groups belong to the genus VespertiUo of Linnaeus. 



A. Nostrils with appendages. Ears simple. 

 Gen. I. RHINOLOPHUS. Horse-shoe Bat.— Nostrils with 

 a complicated membrane hke a horse shoe.— This mem- 

 brane is divided into two processes, the posterior of which 

 is erect. Ears free, acute and reflected. Two incisors 

 above, in a cartilaginous intermaxillary bone, and four be- 

 low, approximate, trifid. Tusks 8, grinders 20. Two 

 pectoral and two inguinal teats were observed by Mon- 

 tagu. 



1. R. F.errum-equinum. Larger Horse-shoe Bat.— ^Front 

 grinder in the upper jaw small, simple, and truncated. 



Horse-shoe Bat, Penn. Brit. Zoo\. i. p. 147. tab. xiv. — Mmit. Linn. Trans. 

 ix. p. 165. tab. xviii. f. 5, 6 Frequenting saltpetre houses at Dart- 

 ford in Kent, Latham ; caverns, Torquay, Devonshire, Montagu. 



The colour is pale rufous-brown ; weight about 4 drams ; length to the root 

 of the tail 24 inches ; tail 3| inches ; expansion of the wings 14^ inches. The 

 tusks are simple. 



2. R. Hipposideros. Lesser Horse-shoe Bat. — Front grinder 

 in the upper jaw acute, and notched at the base before and be- 

 hind. 



Vesp. minutus, Mmt. linn. Trans, ix. p. 163. tab. xviii. f. 7, 8 — Rh. 

 hip. Leach., Zool. Misc. iii. p. 2. tab. 121 In caverns with the pre- 

 ceding, Wiltshire and Devonshire, Montagu. 

 Colour, the same as the preceding; weight from 63 to 80 grains^ length to 

 the root of the tail 2 inches ; tail | inch ; extent of the wings 94 inches. 

 Tusks in the upper jaw notched in front, in the lower simple. Incisors in 



