OF 8ELBORNE. 53 



Bats drink on the wing, like swallows, by sipping the 

 surface, as they play over pools and streams. They 



ment. They were originally given to me as a commentary on the state- 

 ment in the text ; but were subsequently communicated, at my request, 

 to the Zoological Society at its meeting on November 11, 1834. 



" In July, 1833," Mr. Daniell says, " I received five specimens of the 

 pipistrelle bat from Elvetham, Hants ; all of which were pregnant 

 females. There were many more congregated with them in the ruins of 

 the barn in which they were taken; but the rest escaped. They were 

 brought to me in a tin powder canister, in which they had been kept for 

 several days ; and on turning them loose into a common packing-case 

 with a few strips of deal nailed over its front to form a cage, they 

 pleased me much by the great activity which they displayed in the 

 larger space into which they had been introduced; progressing rapidly 

 along the bottom of the box, ascending by the bars to the top, and then 

 throwing themselves off as if endeavouring to fly. I caught some flies 

 and offered one of them to one of the bats, which seized it with the 

 greatest eagerness, and devoured it greedily, and then thrust its nose 

 repeatedly through the bars, with its jaws extended, closing them from 

 time to time with a snap, and evincing the utmost anxiety to obtain an 

 additional supply of this agreeable food. The flies were then offered to 

 the whole of them, and the same ravenous disposition was displayed ; all 

 the bats crowding together at the end of the box at which they were fed, 

 and crawling over, snapping at, and biting each other, like so many 

 curs, uttering at the same time a disagreeable grating squeak. I soon 

 found that my pets were so hungry as to require more time to be 

 expended in fly-catching than I was disposed to devote to them ; and I 

 then tried to feed them with cooked meat : but this they rejected. Raw 

 beef was, however, eaten with avidity ; and an evident preference was 

 given to those pieces which had been moistened with water. The 

 feeding with beef answered exceedingly well, two objects being gained 

 by it : the bats were enabled to feed without assistance ; and my curiosity 

 was gratified by observing them catching flies for themselves. 



" A slice of beef attached to the side of the box in which they were 

 kept not only spared me the trouble of feeding them, but also, by 

 attracting the flies, afforded good sport in observing the animals obtain 

 their own food by this new kind of bat-fowling. The weather being 

 warm, many blue-bottle flies were attracted by the meat ; and, on one of 

 these approaching within range of the bats' wings, it was sure to be 

 struck down by their action, the animal itself falling at the same instant 

 with all its membranes expanded, cowering over the devoted fly, with its 

 head thrust under them in order to secure its prey. When the head was 

 again drawn forth, the membranes were immediately closed, and the fly 

 was observed to be almost invariably taken by the head. The act of 

 deglutition was a laboured operation : the mastication consisting of a 

 succession of eager bites or snaps ; and the sucking process, if I may so 

 term it, by which the insect was drawn into the mouth, being greatly 

 assisted by the loose lips of the animal. Several minutes were usually 



