THE GREATER HORSESHOE BAT 237 



anterior border of canine, 8-8; greatest breadth at zygoma, 12-2; 

 breadth at constriction, 2-6. 



Weight in grammes : — Fourteen males averaged 20-4, the extremes 

 being 23-6 and 17-3 : one female weighed 28-1 (Charbonnier in MS.). 



Distingmshing characters: — R. ferriivi-cqiiinuvL cannot be confused 

 with any other British bat. The nose-leaf marks its genus, and the 

 length of the forearm, always over 50 mm., its species. 



The two Horseshoe Bats were, by the earlier naturalists, 

 regarded as mere varieties of a single species, and the credit 

 of properly distinguishing them in this country belongs to 

 Montagu, who was also the first to discover the smaller species 

 as a member of the British fauna. 



The larger bat was first made known as a European mammal 

 by Daubenton, and as a British species by Latham, the latter of 

 whom supplied Pennant with an account of it from specimens 

 taken in the saltpetre houses of the Dartford powder mills in Kent. 



All the members of the singular family to which the present 

 species belongs are distinguished by the possession of a compli- 

 cated cutaneous development upon the nose, and it is to the 

 shape of the anterior portion of this organ that the Horseshoe 

 Bats owe their name. It is not easy to explain the precise use 

 of this very remarkable structure, but it seems unnecessary to 

 adopt any of the highly ingenious theories which have been 

 advanced to account for its presence. It is quite consistent 

 with probability, and indeed almost indisputable, that the 

 membranous expansions which are the property of the leaf- 

 nosed or large-eared bats, are in some way instrumental in the 

 execution of those marvellous passages through narrow or 

 intricate places, of which these creatures are past-masters, and 

 for the performance of which their eyes can be of little service. 

 No one who compares the motions of a Horseshoe with those 

 of a typical bat can fail to be struck by the marked contrast 

 between them. Active and alert as all bats undoubtedly are, 

 even when liberated in a room to which they are complete 

 strangers, yet the majority make repeated mistakes, and, as 

 has been more than once remarked, will fly against the glass 

 of a window, or strike it with their wings. A Horseshoe, on 

 the contrary, if liberated in a room, and with its attention 

 not otherwise occupied, as when in pursuit of its prey, avoids 



