The Mammalian Fauna of the Edinburgh District. 97 
[ VESPERTILIO NATTERERI Kuhl. NATTERER’S BAT. 
This Bat is recorded as having occurred near Dalkeith, but 
unfortunately the circumstances are not altogether satisfac- 
tory. They are as follows :-—On 28th September 1880 the 
late Mr R. Gray wrote to Mr Harvie-Brown in these terms— 
“T find a new bat to our Scottish lists in some plenty near Dal- 
keith, viz., R. [sic] natterert.” . . . “ Natterert was in dozens 
in the hole of a tree,” statements which were published by 
Mr Harvie-Brown in the Proceedings of the Glasgow Natural 
Mistory Society (vol. iv., p. 803). It seems strange that Mr 
Gray, who was always so solicitous for the full and proper 
recording of rarities, should have let the subject drop here if 
he was convinced of the correctness of his identification. I 
have endeavoured to follow the matter up, but with little 
success. No specimen of Bat from Dalkeith, or of V. natterert 
from any locality, can be found in Mr Gray’s collections. 
From Mr Hope, taxidermist, Edinburgh, I learn, however, 
that in 1880 he had in his shop, besides those brought 
by Mr Speedy from The Inch, and since referred by Mr Eagle 
Clarke to V. daubentoni, some Bats from Dalkeith Park, 
which Mr Gray remarked were of an uncommon kind, and 
one of which was given to him at his request. On inquiry 
at Mr Malcolm Dunn, Dalkeith Gardens, he informs me that 
“in the spring of 1886 a large colony of bats (roughly 
estimated at about fifty) were discovered one sunny afternoon 
thickly clustered beneath the ‘roan’ and eave, and behind a 
rain-pipe” in a corner of his house. He mentioned the 
circumstance to Mr Gray, who expressed the opinion that 
they would belong to the species known as Natterer’s Bat. 
For two or three years they frequented the same corner, but 
have now entirely deserted it; and though Mr Dunn has 
made diligent search himself in every likely place, and has 
kindly afforded me an opportunity for a personal examination 
this summer, we have not succeeded in finding their present 
quarters. It is possible these Bats were a colony of V. 
daubentont ; but it must be remembered that Mr Gray was 
well acquainted with that species, having reported its occur- 
rence on several occasions, and that, after all, the existence of 
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