TYPICAL BATS. 51' 



large Bats shot there by Mr. F. Bond, which have been 

 referred to the present species ; but in a *' Guide to the Isle 

 of Wight," pubHshed in 1876, Mr. More pointed out that the 

 identification was incorrect, and that the Bats in question were 

 really Noctules. 



Habits. — On the Continent, where this Bat is one of the 

 most abundant species, it appears abroad late in the evening, 

 and flies at a low elevation. Never associating with other 

 species, it congregates by hundreds in the roofs of churches 

 and other buildings, as well as in caves ; and is reported to be 

 extremely quarrelsome in disposition — so much so, indeed, 

 that many individuals in a colony are often found with the 

 membranes of their wings torn to rags, and some of the bones 

 broken. Although its proper food is insects, specimens kept 

 in confinement in India have been known to kill some of their 

 fellows and eat a portion of their flesh. But a single offspring 

 is produced at a birth, and the little one may be found cling- 

 ing to the body of the female from the latter part of May till 

 about the middle of July, after which it is able to shift for itself. 



VI. THE WHISKERED BAT. VESPERTILIO MYSTACINUS. 



Vespertilio mystacinus^ Leisler, in Kuhl's Deutsch. Flederm. 



p. 58 (1817); Bell, British Quadrupeds 2nd ed. p. 67 



(1874); Dobson, Cat. Chiroptera Brit. Mus. p. 314 



(1878). 

 Vespertilio siligorensis, Hodgson ; Horsfield, Ann. Mag. Nat. 



Hist. ser. 2 vol. xvi. p. 102 (1853). 



Characters. — Whereas in the preceding species the wings 

 arise from the metatarsus, or sides of the feet between the 

 ankle and the toes, in the Whiskered Bat they take origin from 

 the base of the outer toe. This feature, coupled with the 

 absence of any accessory lobe of membrane near the spur on 



£ 2 



