270 BA TS 



ization, indicates that they are less specialized types than the two preceding families, 

 to which, however, they are in other respects intimately related. Accordingly, Dr. 

 Dobson considers that in the typical bats we have the descendants of the ancestral 

 forms which gave rise both to the Nycteridce and the horseshoe and leaf-nosed bats ; 

 and we may thus regard all these three families as forming a single distinct branch 

 of the insectivorous bats ; the main stem of this branch being formed by the Ves- 

 pertilionidce ', and the other two families forming side branches. The number of 

 these bats being so great, all that can be done here will be to select a few of 

 the better-known examples of some of the more important genera. 



THE LONG-EARED BAT {Plecotus auritus) 



The well-known long-eared bat, of which we give an illustration in the ac- 

 companying figure, is a common, though not very abundant, British species, easily 

 recognized by the great length of its delicate ears. It is one of two representatives 

 of the genus Plecotus, forming the type of a special group characterized by the 

 presence of grooves, or incipient nose-leaves, on the upper part of the muzzle 

 behind the nostrils ; and also by the ears being generally very large, and united by 

 their inner margins. 



The long-eared bat has 36 teeth, of which f on each side are incisors, and 

 cheek-teeth ; the premolars being, what is very rare in the family, f in number. 

 The ears are much more than twice the length of the head, and are united for a 

 considerable distance ; their tragus being also large. The general color, like that 

 of all British bats, is sombre, being brownish gray above and paler on the under 

 parts. This bat has a very wide geographical distribution, being found over the 

 greater part of Europe, in Northern Africa, and probably also in most of the tem- 

 perate regions of Asia ; so that its known range extends from Ireland in the west to 

 the Darjiling Himalaya in the east. 



In the great development of its ears, as well as in the presence of groovings on 

 the nose (which in other forms of the group develop into incipient nose-leaves), the 

 long-eared bat and its allies occupy the highest, or most specialized position among 

 the typical bats. This large size of the ears is in all probability connected with the 

 nocturnal habits of this species ; and it would appear that these organs to a large 

 extent serve the same purposes as the large nose-leaves of the horseshoe-bats. That 

 the long-eared bat is mainly nocturnal in its habits is clearly stated in the second 

 edition of Bell's British Quadrupeds, where it is mentioned that although this 

 species may often be seen hawking after flies with the short-eared pipistrelle in the 

 evening, yet that it is late in coming forth from its diurnal resting-place, and that 

 its flight is continued throughout the night. The presence of this bat may be 

 recognized by its cry, which, when once known, can always be distinguished from 

 that of all other species ; and the author of the work just cited tells us how this cry 

 may be heard at all hours of even the darkest night, whether the listener be in 

 the open fields, in the neighborhood of woods, or near towns. The cry itself is 

 described as being acute and shrill, although not loud ; but practice only can enable 

 observers to distinguish it from that of other bats. 



