6o VESPERTILIONID^— NYCTALUS 



extended its range to Bishop Auckland and Newcastle-on-Tyne respec- 

 tively, the latter the extreme northernmost limit of Durham (^Naturalist, 

 1884-5, 202; 1886, 113 and 173; Harting, Zoologist, 1887, 260). In 

 Lakeland, Macpherson, although denying its general distribution, placed 

 its range as " at least as far north as our most southern limits," and 

 particularly at Carnforth in Lancashire, and probably at Bowness-on- 

 Solway in Cumberland, Harting, on the authority of Lee, records 

 its occurrence at Kendal in Westmorland {^Zoologist, 1887, 170). 



For Scotland there was until recently no certain record, although 

 Sir William Jardine stated that it had been seen about the river Annan 

 in Dumfries {Statistical Account of the Parishes of Applegarth and 

 Sibbaldbie, 1835, 175), and Fleming identified with it John Walker's 

 Vespertilio auriculatus} Of late years. Service {Ann. Scott. Nat. Hist., 

 1896, 202) has on several occasions noticed darkly coloured bats flying 

 high near Dumfries, and his description is suggestive of a member 

 of the genus Nyctalus. The first actually known Scotch specimen, 

 shot at Deune, on the Tay, in Perth, by Charles Eversfield, on 13th 

 October 1904, was forwarded to Millais : the skeleton is in the Perth 

 Museum {Zoologist, 1904, 425). A second was sent to William Taylor 

 from Duffus, near Elgin, on ist October 1909, and others are stated to 

 have been seen about Elgin and Llanbryde, where there is probably a 

 colony {Ann. Scott. Nat. Hist., 19 10, 52-53). 



So far as is known, A^. noctula is absent from all the Scotch islands, 

 as well as from Man and Ireland, although Dobson at one time 

 identified with it two bats, a male and female, procured from Tandragee, 

 Co. Armagh, by Barrington {Zoologist, 1874, 4071-4074; Harting, 

 Zoologist, 1887, 168). In 1878 the same authority cited them as 

 " V. leisleri" {Catalogue, 215), but in 1889, writing to Barrington of 

 some further Irish specimens, he thought that, if certain characters 



^ Unfortunately Walker's description of V. auriculatus, except that it clearly does 

 not apply to a Rhinolophus, was not drawn up with sufficient exactness to be definitely 

 applicable to any known Scottish species. It does not include any dimensions, and 

 the thirty-two teeth and lanceolate tragus would refer rather to V, serotinus, which is 

 not known to occur in Scotland, than to N. noctula. Alston evidently considered the 

 description inexact, or he would not have connected it with Myotis daubentoni {Fauna 

 of Scotland, 8), a species having thirty-eight teeth. On the whole, it seems better to let 

 such laxly written descriptions remain unconnected with any particular species than 

 to attempt a definite decision upon insufficient grounds. It may be interesting to 

 transcribe the whole passage : — 



"Auriculis duplicatis. Vespertilio auriculatus, caudatus, naso oreque simplici, 

 auriculis duplicatis capite minoribus. . . . Descriptio maris. Dentes XXXII. numera- 

 vimus. Primores superiores 4 acuti distantes ; inferiores 4 acuti contigui. Laniarii 

 superiores 6 : anticis maximis acutis ; inferiores 6 : anticis majoribus. Molares utrinque 

 6. Aures duplicatae, capite multo minores. Exterior major ovata obtusa. Interior 

 minor brevior lanceolata. Palmae palmato-alatae maximas, pollice unguiculato. Plantas 

 pentadactylae fissae, digitis pilosis unguiculatis. Cauda geniculata, 6 articulis. 

 Membrana juxta caudam, margine ciliato. . . ." 



