110 



NOCTULE, OR GREAT BAT. 



Scotophilus Noctula. GRAY. 



Ears ovato-triangular, shorter than the Jiead, their inner 

 margin angular at the base, the outer arcuate ; tragus less 

 than a third of the length of the ear, elliptical, incurvate, 

 with a broad rounded tip ; fur short, reddish-brown all over, 

 viembranes dusky. 



espertilio Noctula, Desmar. Mammal. 136 ; Jenyns, Brit. Vert. 

 An. 23; Bell, Brit. Quadr. 12 La Serotine, Geoffr. Ann. 

 Mus. VIII. 194. 



THE Great Bat of Pennant is, as its name implies, 

 one of the largest of our British species, being ex- 

 ceeded only by Vcspertilio ii^otis. It was first 

 described by Daubenton, in the Memoirs of the 

 French Academy for 1759? and introduced to notice 

 as an inhabitant of this country by White, in his 

 Natural History of Selborne. Its habits are social, 

 and numerous individuals have been found together 

 in its winter retreats, so many as a hundred and 

 eighty-five having been taken in one night from under 

 the eaves of Queen's College, Cambridge, and sixty- 



