GREATER HORSE-SHOE BAT. 79 



this curious apparatus is intended for closing the 

 nostrils when they are not in use, or that it forms 

 an extension of the organ of smell ; but it seems 

 much more probable that the delicate and bare skin 

 of which it consists, affords a peculiar localization 

 to the sense of touch, doubtless rendered necessary 

 by the habits of those animals, with which, how- 

 ever, we are not sufficiently acquainted to be en- 

 abled to connect their actions with their organization. 

 Two species have been found in England, the 

 Greater and the Smaller, very intimately allied in 

 the form of all their parts. 



The Greater Horse-shoe Bat has the head of an 

 oblong form, the occiput rounded, the muzzle tumid, 

 and margined with stiffish hairs. The mouth is 

 wide ; the upper incisors, two in number, are ex- 

 tremely small; the lower, which are four, three- 

 lobed ; six molar es above, and the same number 

 below. The nostrils are very small, placed near 

 each other, in the bottom of a narrow cavity. The 

 anterior membrane is somewhat in the form of a 

 horse-shoe, anteriorly slit, with its margins sinuous ; 

 an erect oblong and pointed crest rises from its 

 upper part ; the posterior membrane is ovato-lan- 

 ceolate, with a basal lobe on each side, and fringed 

 with stiffish hairs. The ears are very large, ovato- 

 acuminate, concave, slightly hairy, their outer mar- 

 gin transversely plicate, and having a sinus towards 

 the tip ; a large semi-orbicular lobe at the base is 

 capable of closing the ear, when it is contracted. 

 The fur, which is long and soft, is reddish-grey 



