rTH 





THE LONG-EARED BAT 



Long-eared Bat (Plecolus auritus), a common British bat, which does good work in destroying injurious insects. It is a 

 playful creature, not difficult to tame. The ear-trumpet is larger in proportion than in any other animal, and may be I % 

 inches long. The body, not counting the tail, is about 2 inches in length. In the ear, as in many other bats, there is a very 

 strong development of the forward flap or tragus (TR), which is represented by a small anterior lobe on our ear-trumpet, 

 guarding the entrance. The projecting clawed thumb (TH) is clearly shown, and the fourth digit (IV), corresponding to 

 our little finger. Between the hind-legs, supported by the tail (T), there is an inter-femoral membrane (I. P.M.), a basket 

 of skin against which the bat presses its insect booty when it is killing them during its flight. 







Photo: Aberdeen University .Museum. 



LONG-EARED BAT IN RESTING ATTITUDE 



In the Long-eared Bat (Plecolus aurilus) the ears are nearly 

 as long as the body! When the animal is resting squat, it 

 folds its long pinnae backwards along its body, and that leaves 

 projecting forward from each ear a strongly developed earlet, 

 or tragus. When the bat hangs itself up to rest (as above) 

 the long ears hang down. 



