io6 VESPERTILIONIDvE— PIPISTRELLUS 



i.e., leather fly ; sciathan leathair, i.e., leather wings ; ystlum, as in Wales ; 

 see under NOCTULE (Alston ; Forbes ; O'Connell ; Wilde, Pj'oc. Roy. 

 Irish Acad., vii., 189, 9th and 25th May 1859, published 1862.) 



Distribution : — Pipistrelle-like bats occur throughout boreal and 

 transitional Europe and Asia, from sea-level to 6000 feet in the Alps 

 (Blasius), from about 60 N. lat. in Skandinavia, Russia, and Asia, 

 to the Mediterranean, with the Balearics (Barcelo, but not found 

 by Thomas and Pocock), Sicily, the Caucasus, Ural, and Altai 

 ranges, Kashmir valley and Gilgit (Blanford), and from Ireland 

 to an unknown point in Siberia or China. In austral and transi- 

 tional zones the direct representative in North America is P. subfiaviis 

 of the eastern United States. 



From north to south of the British Isles this species is probably 

 numerous in every locality where bats can exist, and it was until recent 

 years a general assumption that it is everywhere the commonest species. 

 No doubt this is frequently true, especially in the south and east of Eng- 

 land, where no bat flies more frequently or persistently, or is more easily 

 observed and caught, so that it is almost certain that it is actually the 

 commonest to the eye. But in many localities close observers report that 

 its numbers are equalled or exceeded by those of Myotis mystacinus, from 

 which in flight it is with difficulty distinguishable, of Plecotus auritus 

 or Nyctalus noctula. In Lincoln it outnumbers all the other species 

 together (Caton Haigh), but in parts of Buckingham Cocks finds P. auritus 

 more numerous. In the west and north its numbers decrease; thus, 

 although common on the Gloucester side of the Avon, it becomes rare on 

 the Somerset side, and Charbonnier and Lloyd Morgan believe that it may 

 be there replaced by Al. mystacinus, as Jenyns found to be the case to a 

 great extent at Bath (see Harting, Zoologist, 1888, 164). In Shropshire 

 also its numbers are less than those of P. auritus (Forrest), and in 

 Merioneth and North Wales generally it is less plentiful than either of 

 the other three species mentioned above. From the north of England 

 similar reports are forthcoming, it being in Cheshire locally less common 

 than M. mystacinus (Coward and Oldham), in Yorkshire probably about 

 as numerous as that species or P. auritus (Roebuck quoted by Harting, 

 loc. cit., 165), and in Lakeland not so abundant as in the southern 

 counties (Macpherson). 



In Scotland it is stated to be in most localities much the commonest 

 bat, and to range to the extreme north (Alston), becoming, however, 

 less numerous in Sutherland and rare in Caithness. It must be 

 remembered, however, that this is only a comparative statement, since 

 other bats, except P. auritus and M. daubentoni are, as a rule, absent 

 from Scotland. For Ireland, Lyster Jameson gave a list of twenty-two 

 counties where it is known to occur, and it is certain that it is present 

 also in the remaining ten (see Patterson, Irish Naturalist, 1900, 233). 



