84 VESPERTILIONID.E— NYCTALUS 



(Winge), and probably the shores of the Mediterranean generally, and 

 from Ireland probably to China. As in the case of N. noctula, the exact 

 limits of its range are very imperfectly known, but allied forms (men- 

 tioned on page 54) are known from the Azores, Madeira, the Hima- 

 layas, and the Oriental Region. 



The distribution of Leisler's Bat is still very imperfectly known 

 for Great Britain, where it ranks as one of the rarest species. Its 

 admission to the British list rested for many years upon the slender 

 evidence of a single historical specimen in the British Museum, figured 

 by Bell in both his editions. 



To this record Tomes, before 1874, added a specimen in the 

 Bond collection, taken near Cirencester. Tomes himself not unfre- 

 quently observed the species along the course of the river Avon, 

 in the counties of Warwick, Worcester, and Gloucester, and therefore 

 concluded that it must be less rare than had hitherto been supposed. 



More recent study has added a few county records. Thus, for 

 Yorkshire, Bond informed Newman {Field, 7th March 1874, 218) that he 

 had seen specimens taken from a chimney-shaft near Leeds : Clarke 

 and Roebuck give the date of these as about 1840, and the exact 

 locality as Hunslet (see GrSihhd.va, Naturalist, 1899, 72); one of these 

 was in Bond's collection, and at his death passed into the possession of 

 Harting. Charbonnier obtained seven shot at Mexborough in 1890, one 

 of which is now in the British Museum {Zoologist, 1892, 329); lastly, 

 Armitage and Whitaker have found the species not uncommon near 

 Barnsley and Wakefield (Coward, Zoologist, 1905, 68; Armitage, 

 Naturalist, 1905, 37-38, and Whitaker, 1907, 384-388, and 416-418). 



In Cheshire, Coward shot one in Dunham Park in 1899 {Zoologist, 

 1899, 266). He has occasionally observed the species since, and believes 

 that it is more abundant than is generally supposed. 



There is an old and doubtful record for Norfolk : T. Paine, jun. 

 {Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., Nov. 1838, 181- 183, published 1839), identi- 

 fied as referable to this species fourteen bats taken from a hollow 

 tree near Norwich. Jenyns, who examined one of them, declared 

 {Journ. cit., 481) that it was "not a specimen of V. leisleri" but was 

 undecided whether it was " the young of a Noctule or a distinct species." 

 Apparently no skull was submitted to Jenyns, but the description and 

 dimensions given by Paine agree so well with those of N. noctula that 

 I have no hesitation in connecting his specimens with that species. 

 Possibly the band of hair on the arm, which occurs in N. noctula as well 

 as in A^. leisleri, misled both Paine and Jenyns. 



The bat is thus known to occur only in three isolated districts — 

 the West Riding of Yorkshire, Cheshire, and the valley of the Avon — 

 in Great Britain ; judging, however, from its abundance and extended 

 distribution in Ireland, there seems to be no apparent reason why it 



