38 BRITISH BATS. 



two females and a male, the latter a very fine 

 specimen. On capturing them, I placed them in a 

 large .wire cage, and they immediately appeared 

 quite at home, feeding freely on small pieces of raw 

 beef, and on mealworms and cockchafers, rejecting, 

 however, large flies. On seizing their food, the 

 wings were immediately expanded before the 

 animal, forming a kind of tent, beneath which the 

 head and neck were thrust, the insect or piece of 

 meat being disposed of by a series of pecking bites, 

 the action of the jaws being apparently similar to 

 the same organ in the cat tribe. Their olfactory 

 nerve appeared to be peculiarly sensitive. When 

 the bats were in a state of somnolence during the 

 day-time, and were hanging by the claws in a 

 corner of their cage, each looking more like a ball 

 of brown wool than a living animal, if a cockchafer 

 or mealworm was held to the wires of the cage, 

 they would immediately awake and scramble with 

 all possible haste to secure the coveted morsel. 

 They lapped water freely, but did not raise the 

 head after drinking, as I have noticed is the case 

 with the pipistrelle and the long-eared bats. The 

 noctules were most cleanly animals, combing their 

 fur most assiduously with the claws of the hind-feet, 

 and seeming to take especial care in forming a 

 straight parting down the back. The wings were 

 cleaned both with the feet and tongue, which latter 



