DAUBENTON'S, OR THE WATER BAT 145 



"by far the most common and abundant Bat"; and in Elgin it is not 

 uncommon in some parts of the valley of the Spey (Kinnear) ; and it 

 may be expected further north. A colony has been recorded from 

 Kinlochaline Castle, Morven, Argyll (Charles Campbell, Field, 31st July 

 1897, 222) ; it was found abundantly in Perth by Grieve {Ann. Scott. Nat. 

 Hist., October 1894, 193-195), and in Solway is commoner than P. pipi- 

 strellus (Service), but definite records are still needed for many counties. 

 In the Highlands it reaches at least 512 feet above sea-level (Grieve). 



In Ireland the bat is as yet but little known. The first known 

 specimen, obtained in Londonderry, was submitted to Jenyns for identi- 

 fication by the Ordnance Collectors (Thompson), the date being given 

 by Jameson as 1838 {Irish Naturalist, 1897, 39). It was next encountered 

 by J. R. Kinahan in Kildare in 1853, ^i^d was at first identified with M. 

 nattereri {Nat. Hist. Review (Dublin), i., 23-25 and 87, 1854), but assigned 

 by Bell to the present species {op. cit., i., 148-149; also vi., 383, 1859). 

 Subsequently Jameson {Irish Naturalist, loc. a'/., also 1896,94) secured 

 specimens in both counties Fermanagh and Louth ; in the former 

 case in Bohoe Cave, in the latter at Branganstown on the river Glyde. 

 Barrington received one from the Lucifer Shoals Lightship, nine miles 

 off the Wexford coast (see below, p. 153). It had been caught on 21st 

 April "flying low over the deck," at 7.30 P.M. Lastly, E. B. Knox sent 

 one to Alcock from Bray, Co. Wicklow {Irish Naturalist, 1898, 256). No 

 other reputable records exist, that given by Knox in his History of 

 Down being unsupported by evidence, and that by Lydekker for Donegal 

 having apparently been copied from Bell, in whose second edition 

 Thompson's Londonderry record is credited to Donegal. The species 

 thus ranges from north to south of the island, and, since it was found 

 numerously in its Kildare, Fermanagh, and Louth localities, and was 

 established in a distinct colony when found in Wicklow, there can be no 

 doubt that our knowledge of its distribution is defective, and it may yet 

 prove to be a widely spread and abundant species. 



Distribution in time : — Bones from the Pleistocene deposits of 

 Ightham Fissure, Kent, have been provisionally associated with this 

 species, or with Myotis niystacinus, by E. T. Newton {Quart. Jour n. Geol. 

 Soc, August 1899, 420; see also Ahhot, Journ. cit.. May 1894, 171-211), 

 as have leg-bones from superficial deposits in the caves of Co. Clare, 

 Ireland (Scharfif, Trans. Roy. Irish Acad., Feb. 1906, 53); but, in the 

 absence of skulls, it were well to accept the identifications with caution, 

 and in the latter case, as Scharff points out, no conclusions affecting 

 the age of this bat in Ireland can be based on such fresh remains. 



The period of gestation is unknown, but probably does not differ 

 widely from that oi Pipistrellus pipistrellus. 



Breeding season and number of young : — A single young one is 

 born, most frequently in June and July. 



