158 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. no 



colony in the attic and storerooms of a large log buUding in a recreation 

 camp. In North Carolina, Brimley (1945(?), p. [10]) reported it in 

 an "old house," and Odum (1949, p. 188) had a specimen from an 

 occupied dwelling. Some South Carolina specimens have come from 

 a barn (Schwartz, 1954, in litt.) and from a closet in an occupied 

 dwelling (ChM specunen labels). Harper (1927, pp. 279-281) 

 recorded that residents of the Okefenokee Swamp had observed 

 Plecotus most frequently in buildings — on several occasions during 

 services in a meeting-house, in occupied dwelling houses (on wall 

 near ceiling, and on chimney), in a shanty, in a commissary, and 

 beneath the flooring of a railway telephone booth. In Florida 

 big-eared bats have been discovered in the headquarters building of 

 an Indian reservation (E. V. Komarek, 1954, in litt.) and in the base- 

 ment of an occupied dwelling in an urban area (Moore, 1949b, p. 50). 

 Alabama records cite the ceiling of a small round gatehouse and the 

 garret of an old abandoned grist mill (A. H. HoweU, 1921, p. 28). 

 In Louisiana, Vernon BaUey (field notes) found it in the attic of a 

 large plantation house, and Louisiana State L^niversity specimen 

 labels record it from occupied farm houses. 



Behavior: P. rafinesguii seems to be rather unsociable. Solitary 

 individuals are more commonly encountered than clusters of indi- 

 viduals. Summer colonies have been recorded as foUows: 5 gravid 

 females, Houma, La., 12 May (Vernon Bailey, field notes); 20 or 25 

 (3 collected were gravid females) in smaU cave in Warren County, 

 Tenn., 31 May (Ganier, 1954, in litt.); breeding colony (females and 

 young) in Breathitt County, Ky., 14 June (Barbour, 1957, p. 141); 

 3 females and 1 small young collected near Baton Rouge, La., 17 June 

 (LSU specimen labels). Five of unspecified sex were taken at 

 Taylorsville, N.C., on 25 August (Brimley, 1945(?), p. [10]); and a 

 group of seven, of both sexes, were collected at Cades Cove, Tenn., 

 on 15 July (Stupka, 1954, in litt.). 



Winter aggregations (usually consisting of both sexes) are more 

 numerous, but even at this season solitary individuals are frequently 

 encountered. Stupka (1954, in litt.) collected 11 in a house near 

 Gatlinburg, Tenn., on 17 November, but the bats were scattered in 

 two or three rooms and the attic; seven were collected in Georgetown 

 County, S.C., on 18 December (ChM specimen labels); Ganier 

 (1954, in litt.) has reported small groups in caves of Warren County, 

 Tenn., on 19 March and in early September; and in western Tennessee 

 Goodpaster and Hofi^meister (1952, p. 365) found several big-eared 

 bats hanging in a clump in an open cistern on 2 September (15 were 

 collected) and on 13 March found numerous Plecotus in the same 

 cistern, hanging individually and in two or three smaU clumps (25 

 specimens taken). 



