300 BA TS 



has a habit of exposing its tail, and of sinking its eye into the socket and thrusting 

 it out again. The membrane extending from the tail to the legs is wrinkled, and 

 covers the tail like a glove, so as to slip up and down as the creature wishes to 

 expand or contract its interfemoral wing, or, in nautical language, to shake out or 

 take in reefs." The tail cannot, however, be completely withdrawn into the 

 membrane, in the manner of the tomb-bats. 



Two species are found in India, two in Australia, and New Guinea, and four 

 in America, but the majority are restricted to Africa south of the Sahara and' Mada- 

 gascar. The Indian species are generally found during the day in caverns and old 

 buildings, countless myriads inhabiting the limestone caves of Phagat, thirty miles 

 from Moulmein, in Burma. And it is probable that the habits of most of the other 

 species are very similar. 



Writing from Jamaica of the habits of the Brazilian wrinkled-lipped species (JV. 

 brasiliensis) , Mr. W. Osburn observes : ' ' Vast numbers of these little bats inhabit 

 the shingled roof of my house. ... I have often observed them during the 

 day, exactly as Goldsmith's line expresses : ' lazy bats in drowsy clusters cling ' ; 

 for, what seems surprising, notwithstanding the heat of the situation, shingles 

 exposed to the sun (and it was disagreeably hot and confined where I stood, twelve 

 or fifteen feet below), the bats clung in complete clusters. I counted fourteen little 

 heads in a mass about the size of a turnip. But they are not all asleep ; now and 

 then a wing is stretched out with drowsy enjoyment ; and the luxury King James 

 thought too great for subjects, and which ought to be reserved for kings, is largely 

 indulged in by these bats. First one and then another wakes up, and withdrawing 

 one leg, and leaving himself suspended by the other alone, adroitly uses the foot at 

 liberty as a comb, with a rapid effective movement dressing the fur of the under 

 parts and head an action far from ungraceful. The foot is then cleaned quickly 

 with the teeth or tongue, and restored to its first use. Then the other leg does 

 duty. Perhaps the hairs with which the foot is set may aid to this end. I often 

 have seen them do this in confinement, and probably the numerous bat-flies with 

 which they are infested may be the cause of extra dressing. ' ' 



THE NEW ZEALAND BAT 

 Genus Mystacops 



That New Zealand, with its far more favorable climate for these animals than 

 the British Isles, should possess only two species of bats is a very remarkable fact. 

 One of these {Chalinolobus tuberculatus) , belonging to a genus closely allied to Ves- 

 perugo (p. 274), is common to New Zealand and Australia; while the second is 

 peculiar to the colony, and represents a distinct and aberrant group of the family 

 under consideration. 



The New Zealand bat {Mystacops tuberculatus) differs from the other members 

 of the family Emballonuridcz in that the third or middle finger of the wing is pro- 

 vided with three distinct bony joints ; of which the first, when at rest, is folded 



