132 VESPERTILIONID^— VESPERTILIO 



nearest known locality to the metropolis. An Essex specimen killed 

 before 1863 at Coggeshall was detected by Miller Christy in 1883, and 

 another was taken by him in 1894 at Broomfield {Journ. at., 1883, 173 ; 

 Proc. Essex Field Club, iv., iv., 1892, and Zoologist, 1894, 423-424), A 

 third Essex specimen, taken at Pitsea, near Tilbury, in August 1906, 

 was exhibited to the members of the Essex Field Club, by Rev. A. B. 

 Hutton, on 24th November. It was examined and identified by Laver. 

 The first-mentioned locality remains the most northerly authenticated 

 for Britain, although Coburn believes that he once had a Birmingham 

 specimen through his hands {Zoologist, 1892,403). A reputed example 

 in the Nev/castle Museum has been examined by Southwell, and proves 

 to be a Noctule {Journ. cit., 1887, 234), and Lilford's belief that it 

 occurs in Northampton {Joiirn. cit., 1887, 65) may have been founded 

 on a misapprehension. 



The restricted distribution in Britain of a type of such wide range 

 in the world is very remarkable, and must be regarded as one of the 

 puzzles of British mammalogy, difficult or impossible to account for 

 unless on the supposition that the species is either newly arrived or 

 decreasing its range. The abundance of bats may depend on so 

 many circumstances of which we have little knowledge, that it may be 

 well to note More's statement of this species that in the Isle of Wight 

 it was very common until the felling of the timber. 



Distribution in time : — This species is not known in a fossil or 

 semi-fossil condition. 



The period of gestation, breeding season, and number of young have 

 not been recorded for England ; but in Germany, according to Blasius, 

 there is but one young one, born, according to Kuhl {Op. cit. supra, 

 p, 83, I, 191), in the latter half of May: in other respects, this bat is 

 stated to be normal (see page 31, etc.). 



Description: — The Serotine is of about the size of the Noctule, 

 but with the ear oval (Fig. 2, No 4, p. 7), somewhat triangular, and when 

 flattened out, with the broadly rounded tip reaching to a point about 

 midway between nostril and eye ; the outer margin is concave for 

 the upper half, then convex, slightly emarginate opposite the base of 

 the tragus, and ending in a convex lobe behind the angle of the 

 mouth ; the inner margin is slightly convex with a rounded basal 

 lobe. The tragus is elongate, broadest just above the base of the 

 inner margin, thence diminishing slowly in breadth to the bluntly 

 pointed tip ; its inner margin is straight or slightly concave, the outer 

 convex with a small projecting rounded basal lobe. The tumid face is 

 sparsely haired in front, but with a fringe of stronger hairs on the upper 

 lip; the glands are not so prominent as in Nyctalus {?\2Xq. IV., Fig, 3, p. 60). 



The wing (Plate IX., Fig. 2, p. 126) is broader than in N. noctula, the 

 lower leg, tail, forearm, and fifth metacarpal being all longer than in 



