THE WHISKERED BAT 159 



1870. Vespertilio mystacinus, (i) van nigricans, (2) var. rufofuscum, (3) var. 

 AUREUM, Carl Koch, Zoologische Garten, xi., 368-369, 1870 ; all described from 

 three coloured plates, from Frankfort, Germany. 



1871. VESPERTILIO MYSTACINUS, NIGRO-FUSCUS, L. J. Fitzinger, Sitzioigsberichte 

 der Kaiserlichen Acad, der Wissenschaften (Vienna), Ixiii., i, 217; renaming 

 Brehm's Vespertilio schinzii. 



1871. Vespertilio mystacinus schrankii,i auct. et op. cit., 219. 



1871. Myotis brandtii, auct. et op. cit., 284. 



1898. Myotis mystacinus, Oldfield Thomas, Zoologist, 100 ; Collett ; Mehely ; 



Johnston ; Cabrera ; Millais, 99, pi. 12. 

 1910. Myotis (myotis) mystacinus, E.-L. Trouessart, Faune de Mammiferes 



d'Europe, 33. 



Le Vespertilion AToustac of the French; die Bartfledermaus of the 

 Germans ; but these are book-names only, the bat being probably 

 unknown to popular observation either in this country or in continental 

 Europe. 



Distribution : — This bat, or closely allied representatives, ranges 

 through boreal and transitional Europe and Asia, from sea-level to 

 at least the summit of the Hartz Mountains (Blasius), and in the Alps 

 to about 5500 feet (Fatio), from about 65° N. latitude in Skandinavia 

 (Collett), Finland, and middle Russia to Spain, Syria, and Trans- 

 caucasia, where it is very common (Satunin) ; and from Ireland to 

 Ferghana, the Altais (Kaschtchenko), the Amoor (Schrenck), Pekin 

 (Dobson) and Sakhalin. M. siligorefisis (Horsfield) of Nepal and 

 Sikkim is, perhaps, sub-specific. The species appears to have no near 

 representative in America. 



M. mystacinus is probably a common species in every part of 

 England, except portions of the east and possibly the north. But it is 

 so little known and so often confused with Pipistrellus pipistrellus 

 that the information at our disposal is still very meagre. It 

 was until recently regarded as rare or unknown in many 

 localities where it has since been ascertained to be plentiful. In 

 Yorkshire, for instance, the first record dates from 1882 (Roebuck, 

 Zoologist, 1882, 147), yet six years later Roebuck described it as 

 "one of our common species," about equally common with Plecotus 

 auritus and Pipistrellus pipistrellus (^Journ. cit., 1888, 164-165). 

 Similarly, Oldham's Shropshire record of 1890 {Journ. cit., 1890, 

 349) was, I believe, the first, but Forrest now writes me that he 

 has since received many examples from all parts of that shire. Re- 

 membering these facts, and its occurrence far to the north in Sweden 

 and Finland, it seems reasonable to suppose that the regular range of 

 M. mystacinus extends northwards in Britain, at least to the Highlands. 



1 A. Wagner (Wiegmann's Archiv filr Naturgeschichte, ix., 25, 1843) mentions 

 V. schrankii as of Koch, but I cannot find the original description. 



