WHISKERED BAT. 91 



the tail long, with the interfemoral membrane ex- 

 tended to its extremity. Six bats belonging to it 

 have been found in Britain. 



Of these the Whiskered Bat, Vespertilio mysta- 

 emus, has the head small, the forehead rather flat- 

 tened ; the muzzle obtuse, but with a slight notch 

 between the nostrils, which are tumid ; the face very 

 hairy, with a row of close-set hairs on the upper 

 lip, forming a moustache, whence its name ; a simi- 

 lar row across the forehead. The ears are shorter 

 than the head, of an oblong form, rounded above, 

 broad at the base, bending outwards, with the outer 

 margin slightly sinuate ; the tragus about half the 

 length of the ear properly so called, straight, and 

 tapering to a point. The thumb is of moderate 

 size ; the tail extended beyond the membrane about 

 a line. The fur is long and woolly, on the upper 

 part reddish-black, on the lower ash-grey. The 

 ears and membranes are blackish. The whole length 

 is three inches, of the head seven lines, of the tail 

 an inch and a half; the extended wings measure 

 eight inches and a half. 



Of the habits of this species nothing is known 

 beyond the fact of its retiring into houses, hollow 

 trees, and caverns, in winter. Mr Jenyns states that 

 it occurs, though rarely, in Cambridgeshire and 

 Northamptonshire ; Mr Yarrell has obtained it at 

 Colchester, from the caverns under the castle ; Mr 

 Bell from the chalk cavern at Chiselhurst >in Kent. 

 It was discovered by Leisler in Germany, and was 

 first noticed as British by Mr Gray. 



