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its first detection as a native of Great Britain 

 is due to Mr. Sowerby, who published an 

 account of it with a figure in the British 

 Miscellany. Its general colour is darker 

 than that of any other British species, being 

 nearly black on the back, with here and 

 there a few white hairs, which become more 

 numerous with age ; the hinder parts are 

 reddish brown, and the belly a pale grey. 

 The ears, the naked part of the muzzle, and 

 the flying membrane, are of a dusky black. 

 Length of the head and body, two inches ; 

 extent of wings, between ten and eleven 

 inches. The muzzle is truncated, and a 

 groove leads on each side upwards to the 

 nostrils. The cheeks are rather tumid, and 

 covered with black hair, which forms a sort 

 of moustache. The ears are about the length 

 of the head, nearly as broad as they are 

 long, and irregularly four-sided ; the inner 

 edges are turned back, forming a longitudi- 

 nal groove just within the margin ; the 

 outer and superior angle prominent, rounded, 

 and turned back. The eyes are very small, 



BARBASTELLE BAT. (V. BARBASTELLUS.) 



placed close to the base of the auricle, and 

 almost concealed by the hair on the cheek. 

 The fur of the body is long and soft. Mr. 

 Bell having had a Barbastelle Bat in his 

 possession for some time, was able to give a 

 few slight notices of its habits. "He fed 

 readily on small bits of meat, and drank 

 water. He was a timid animal, and did not 

 evince the slightest disposition to become 

 acquainted with me ; he would take his food, 

 however, with his companions, and was ac- 

 customed to rest with them in a cluster, at 

 the top of the box in which they were placed. 

 The Barbastelle certainly became torpid 

 more readily than any of the others, and 

 more completely so ; but when awake, 

 evinced extreme restlessness, and was inces- 

 santly biting with great violence at the wires 

 of his box. When suffered to fly about the 

 room, he flew very low, and less actively 

 than any other under similar circumstances ; 

 and he was fond of lying before the fire on 

 the hearth-rug, where he appeared quite to 

 luxuriate in the warmth." 



The GREAT BAT. (Vcspertilio noctula.) 

 This was termed altivolntis by White of Sel- 

 borne, from its always flying high in the air, 

 in pursuit of its prey. It is gregarious in its 

 habits ; the cars are short and rounded ; it is 

 about three inches long, and of a reddish 

 ash-colour. 



ThL-, 



but vei., _ 



chesnut colour; frequents lorests ; is 

 in its habits ; and its flight is slow. 



| The MOUSE-COLOURED BAT. (Fes- 

 1 pertflio murinus.) This is the largest of the 

 British Bats, exceeding even the Noctule in 

 ; its length of body and extent of wings. The 

 \ head of this Bat is long, with the ears in- 

 clining backwards. 



The LONG-EARED BAT. (Plecotus auri- 

 tus.} One of the most common of our British 

 Bats, and at the same time one of the most 

 pleasing in its appearance, owing to the ex- 

 traordinary transparency and beauty of the 

 ears. It is also more familiar and bold when 

 in confinement than any other species. 



The HORSE-SHOE BAT. (Ehinolophus.) 

 There is a greater and lesser variety of this 

 i animal ; the former designated Khinolophu* 

 ferrum-equimtm, the latter Rhinoluphus 

 hipposideros. Tliis genus is distinguished by 

 j a very curious nasal appendage, or foliaceous 

 membrane at the end of the nose, shaped 

 somewhat like a horse-shoe, and supposed 

 to extend in an extraordinary degree the 

 sense of smelling. The upper part of the 

 body is of a deep ash-colour, the lower part 

 inclining to white. 



In concluding this article on Bats, we are 

 again tempted to avail ourselves of the in- 

 telligent observations of Mr. Bell : " It is 

 perhaps difficult to account for the preju- 

 dices which have always existed against these 

 harmless and interesting little animals, 

 which have not only furnished objects of 

 superstitious dread to the ignorant, but have 

 proved to the poet and the painter a fertile 

 source of images of gloom and terror. That 

 the ancient Greek and Roman poets, fur- 

 nished with exaggerated accounts of the 

 animals infesting the remote regions with 

 which their commerce or their conquests 

 had made them acquainted, should have 

 caught eagerly at those marvellous stories 

 and descriptions, and rendered them sub- 

 servient to their fabulous but highly imagi- 

 native mythology, is not wonderful ; and it 

 is more than probable that some of the 

 ; Indian species of Bats, with their predatory 

 ' habits, their multitudinous numbers, their 

 obscure and mysterious retreats, and the 

 strange combination of the character of 

 ; beast and bird which they were believed to 

 possess, gave to Virgil the idea, which he 

 ! has so poetically worked out, of the Harpies 

 ! which fell upon the hastily spread tables of 

 i his hero and his companions, and polluted, 

 whilst they devoured, the feast from which 

 they had driven the affrighted guests. But 

 that the little harmless Bats of our own 

 climate, whose habits are at once so inno- 

 cent and so amusing, and whose time of ap- 

 pearance and activity is that when every 

 thing around would lead the mind to tran- 

 quillity and peace, should be forced into 

 scenes of mystery and horror, as an almost 

 essential feature in the picture, is an ano- 

 maly which cannot be easily explained." 

 [See PTEROPUS and VAMI-IRE-BAT.] 



BATIIYERGUS, or COAST RAT. This 

 Rodent animal is a native of Southern Africa, 

 frequenting sandy tracts along the coast, 

 where it burrows with great rapidity, work- 

 ing out long galleries, and throwing up hil- 



