36 MAMMALS. 



apparently wanting in Scotland and Ireland. More than 

 one writer has noticed its absence from apparently suit- 

 able districts. The expression imparted by the position 

 of the nostrils in a hairless depression over the muzzle 

 is grotesque in the extreme, the effect being heightened 

 by the tufts of black bristles on the cheeks. The face 

 and ears are black, the latter being short, broad, and 

 notched on the margin. This bat undergoes long retire- 

 ment. 



The group to which our two Horseshoe Bats belong is 

 characterised by the presence of a hairy, leaflike hood over 

 Greater * ne snout, the exact purpose of which has 

 Horseshoe not, so far, been satisfactorily determined. St 

 Bat * Hilaire regarded it as a valve to the nostrils, 



but Bell considered it rather in the light of a highly de- 

 veloped organ of smell, a view that has been more or less 

 accepted by later writers. 



The Greater Horseshoe Bat is fairly common in the 

 southern counties of England, becoming rarer farther 

 north, and absent altogether from Scotland and Ireland. 

 Its food consists largely of chafers, and it is essentially a 

 forest bat. 



The nose-leaf is in three sections, that in front being in 

 the form of a horseshoe, the second flat and bent at the 

 sides, and the hinder one pointed. There is a conspicuous 

 groove in the lower lip. The ears are pointed and the tail 

 short. 



Long regarded as a variety of the last, the Lesser Horse- 

 shoe Bat is distinguished by its inferior size, the position 

 Lesser f ^s lower teeth, and the depression in the 

 Horseshoe hinder portion of the nose -leaf. Like the 

 Bat ' larger, it is found only in the southern coun- 



ties, but, unlike it, it is recorded from Ireland, where it 

 has been taken in caves. It is not so fond of forests, and 

 its flight is more powerful. 



