82 VESPERTILIONID^— NYCTALUS 



allowed to fall as the insect disappeared in the Bat's mouth. 

 Mealworms and small moths, as well as . . . " beetles of lesser 

 size, were seized and eaten without any attempt to overcome 

 their struggles. On the other hand, large moths were some- 

 times, and powerful beetles always, thrust by the bat into the 

 pouch formed by the interfemoral membrane, in order to secure 

 them effectually before they were eaten. A cricket offered 

 to one of Mr Coward's bats was treated in the same way, but 

 cockroaches were in some instances thrust into the pouch, 

 and at other times eaten without that preliminary. It 

 should be remarked, however, that cockroaches, despite their 

 size, submitted very tamely to their fate. On no occasion was 

 foot, carpus, or thumb used to secure or dismember prey.^ 



Mr Oldham's bats seemed unable to see food if held but 

 little more than an inch in front of them, and this was the case 

 in natural twilight as well as in an artificially lighted room. 

 He, therefore, thinks it very doubtful whether in a free state 

 they would avoid a distasteful moth, because its nauseous 

 properties happened to be advertised by warning colour, but 

 Mr Forrest remarks^ that this does not prove that the Noctule 

 may not be "far-sighted, and see an insect in the air at a 

 distance of several feet better than close at hand on the table." 

 It is, however, interesting to note that no amount of per- 

 suasion would induce the bats to eat notoriously unpalatable 

 insects.^ These, although repeatedly offered, were invariably 

 rejected with disgust, as was an oil beetle in a similar experi- 

 ment tried by Mr Coward, Two other moths * also appeared 

 to be unpalatable, but in a lesser degree. 



This bat is one of the largest of the species frequenting 

 Britain. Two others alone, the Serotine and the Greater 

 Horseshoe, are in this respect its equal, or occasionally 

 its superior : their flight is, however, distinct, and their 



' The following, among other species of moths, were readily eaten by Mr Oldham's 

 bats while in captivity : — Mamestra persicarice, Leucania palle?ts, Hepialis humuli, 

 H. sylvinus, H. hectus^ Ruinia cratcegata^ Urapteryx sambucata^ Odontopera bidentatn, 

 Fidonia atomaria, F. piniaria, Xylophasia polyodon^ and Aviphidasis betularia; the 

 list may be completed by the Poplar Hawk Moth, Smerinthus populi^ with one of 

 which species Whitaker fed his captive Noctule {Naturalist^ I905) 325-330). 



- Trans. Caradoc and Severn Valley Field Club., 1900 (Feb. 1901), 244. 



^ As Euchelia jacob<£ce or Abraxas grossulariata. 



* Spilosoma menthastri and S. lubricipeda. 



