50 VESPERTILIONIDJ3. 



cular insects, particularly the nocturnal Lepidoptera ; the 

 harder parts of which, with portions of the wings, are 

 found unchanged in their excrements. Buffon relates, 

 probably of this species, that having descended into the 

 grottoes at Arcy for the purpose of examining the stalac- 

 tites, he was astonished to perceive the ground covered, 

 to an extent of many feet in breadth, with a thick layer 

 of soil, formed principally of the remains of the wings, 

 and hard parts of various insects, as if they had congre- 

 gated there in countless multitudes to perish and rot 

 together. It proved, however, to consist of the excrement 

 of Bats which had suspended themselves from the roof 

 of the grotto : the mass had probably been accumulating 

 for very many years. 



The head of this Bat is long ; the face sparsedly covered 

 only with scattered, stiffish, long hairs ; the forehead very 

 hairy ; the nose naked and smooth, prominent, extending 

 beyond the lower lip ; the gape wide ; the nostrils open- 

 ing laterally, the margins tumid. Eyes rather large, 

 with a few long black hairs immediately above them. 

 Ears inclining backwards, standing strongly out from the 

 head, oval, broad at the base, becoming narrower and 

 even a little pointed at the apex, as long as the head, 

 with a few scattered hairs near the base on the inner 

 margin ; tragus falciform, the tip sub-acute, and the 

 inner margin quite straight. 



Colour of the fur, above, pale reddish brown, beneath, 

 greyish white, the hairs being all blackish at the base. 

 Ears grey without, tending to yellowish within. Mem- 

 branes yellowish brown, paler than in most other species. 

 Specimens from North Africa are usually somewhat paler 

 than European ones. Immature examples have the upper 

 parts of a brownish grey colour, without any of the 

 reddish brown colour of the elder ones. 



