272 BA TS 



The favorite hiding-places of these bats in inhabited districts are church towers, 

 or within the roofs of open buildings or outhouses ; and in such places they may be 

 found in the daytime during the summer months hanging in large clusters, and in 

 the winter carefully ensconced in such crannies and nooks as afford the best pro- 

 tection. In a rock-cut tomb in the Libyan desert visited many years ago by the late 

 Professor L,eith Adams, the long-eared bats, which were at that time regarded as 

 distinct from the present species, were met with in swarms. "So plentiful were 

 they," writes Professor Adams, "that during my descent into the crypt I was 

 covered with them, while hundreds fluttered about like bees around a hive." In 

 North America and Vancouver island, the long-eared bat is represented by an allied 

 species, the American long-eared bat (P. macrotis), readily distinguished by some 

 peculiar gland-like swellings in the region of the nose. Its habits appear to be very 

 similar to those of the European species. 



THE BARBASTEU,E (Synotus barbastellus) 



The barbastelle appears to be one of the rarest of all the British bats, and, like 

 the long-eared bat, is one of two species severally representing a distinct genus. 

 This bat, which belongs to the same group of genera as the species last mentioned, 

 is readily distinguished from the latter externally by the comparatively small size of 

 its ears; while, if its skull be examined, it will be found to have only thirty-four, 

 in place of thirty-six teeth ; this reduction being due to the disappearance of one 

 pair of premolars from the lower jaw. A further point of difference is to be found 

 in the circumstance that, whereas in the long-eared bat the outer margin of the ear 

 terminates suddenly near the corner of the mouth, in the barbastelle it is produced 

 forwards, so as to extend above the mouth to the front of the eye. 



The barbastelle is found over middle and southern Europe, extending as far 

 north as England and Sweden, and it has also been obtained from North Africa and 

 Arabia, while it may extend, as Dr. Dobson suggests, into the temperate regions of 

 Asia lying to the north of the Himalayas. 



When examined closely, the appearance of the head of the barbastelle is so 

 peculiar as to render its recognition always an easy matter. Thus, the muzzle is 

 abruptly truncated and marked by a groove leading up each side to the nostrils ; 

 the latter being situated in a depression void of hair on the upper surface of the 

 muzzle. The black hair on the somewhat swollen cheeks also adds to the pecul- 

 iarity of the physiognomy ; while the ears are relatively broad, and nearly equal 

 in length to the head. The long fur is darker than that of any other European 

 bat, and on the upper parts is brownish black, with the points of the hairs lighter; 

 while on the under parts the light tips of the hairs are longer. The length of the 

 head and body is two inches, and that of the ears half an inch. One white example 

 of this bat has been recorded, and also another in which, while the head and neck 

 were of the normal tint, the body was white. 



Contrary to the habits of the long-eared bat, the barbastelle is a solitary species, 

 both when in repose and during active life. "If," observe the authors of the 

 second edition of Bell's British Quadrupeds, " in a twilight stroll about midsummer, 



