PIPISTRELLE. 35 



elaborate and satisfactory paper on this subject, in which 

 it is investigated with great acumen and judgment; and 

 the conclusion which he draws, and which appears to be 

 completely established, is, that the Common Bat of 

 Britain is the Pipistrelle of the Continental authors. 



The careless and implicit manner in which authorities 

 are constantly followed without sufficient investigation, 

 and error thus propagated from error, is as conspicuous 

 in the present case as in most that could be adduced. 

 Because Vespertilio murinus was the Common Bat of the 

 Continental naturalists their " Chauve-souris " par excel- 

 lence it was presumed that our Common Bat must be the 

 same species ; and Pennant having once stated such to be 

 the case, every subsequent writer on our British Mammalia 

 has copied the mistake ; and V. murinus, one of the rarest 

 of our indigenous species, was still to be the Common Bat 

 of Britain. It was left to Mr. Jenyns to correct this long- 

 established error ; and it is sufficient to refer to his paper 

 every one who wishes to be satisfied on the matter. We 

 have carefully followed out the comparisons instituted by 

 Mr. Jenyns, and can come to no other conclusion than 

 that which he has established. The synonymes, there- 

 fore, of all our British Faunists, from Pennant down 

 to Fleming inclusive, are erroneous as regards the present 

 species. 



From the commonness of this Bat, from the duration 

 of the period of its activity, appearing earlier and retir- 

 ing later than any other, and from its frequenting the 

 neighbourhood of our dwellings, we have become better 

 acquainted with its habits than with those of any other, if 

 we except perhaps the Long-eared Bat, Plecotus auritus, 

 which is indeed, in some places, as common as this. The 

 Pipistrelle makes its appearance, after its short period of 

 torpidity, as early as the middle of March, and does not 



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