I70 VESPERTILIONID^— MYOTIS 



flight, especially after feeding, and if compelled to take wing 

 would, after one or two turns round the room, drop on to the 

 floor, or pitch on a curtain, chair, or my head or body. . . . 

 Although loth to fly, it seemed never tired of running about 

 among the papers and other objects on the table, and was 

 seldom stationary unless it was eating. The bell-jar in which 

 I kept it was raised above a stand on supports rather more 

 than J in., or, to be exact, just 7 mm. in height, and whenever 

 the perforated zinc guard was removed from the intervening 

 space the Bat would creep out at once. The bright light of the 

 lamp on my table seemed to cause it no inconvenience, for it used 

 to sit, supported on feet and wrists, eating mealworms within a 

 few inches of the flame, and never showed any desire to retire to 

 dark or shaded places. Sometimes it would creep under my 

 hand, or up my sleeve, but this, I think, was on account of the 

 sensation of warmth it experienced in nestling against my skin. 



" The sense of sight seems to be but feeble in the Whiskered 

 Bat. The example under notice could not see, or at all events 

 recognise, a mealworm or wet paint-brush, if more than an inch 

 from its face. As this species is more diurnal than any other 

 British bat, and may frequently be seen abroad at midday in 

 summer, the inability of my captive to see objects an inch 

 away cannot be attributed to the dazzling effects of too strong 

 a light, especially as this inability existed equally in the daytime 

 and in the artificial light of a lamp. Its hearing also appeared 

 to be dull, as it never showed by any movement of its head 

 that it perceived a sudden noise, such as the snapping of my 

 fingers, or the click of a watch-lid being closed. It sometimes 

 slept prone upon the floor with wings folded and pressed 

 closely to its sides, at other times suspended by its toes to the 

 rim of a wooden box. During sleep, which was always pro- 

 found, its temperature fell considerably, and it felt, as all Bats 

 do in this state, extremely cold. It usually wakened in the 

 evening, but exceptionally in the daytime without being roused ; 

 while, as a rule, it was necessary to warm it into activity by 

 holding it for a minute or two in my hand if I wanted to feed 

 it by daylight." 



Its voice, often used, is described by Mr Oldham as a feeble 

 squeak, less shrill than that of the Long-eared Bat, and by 



