THE BATS 113 



been obtained from the regions of the Himalayas and North- 

 west India. It is also distributed over Northern and North-east 

 Africa as far south as the Sahara Desert and Nubia. Species 

 allied to the horseshoe bat range over India, Malaysia, and 

 Northern Australia, and over Africa as far south as the Cape. 



It will be seen from the perusal of the foregoing chapter that 

 our knowledge of British bats is relatively scanty, and requires 

 much additional research, not only into the life history of these 

 interesting creatures, but still more into the identification and 

 correct naming of British species. At least four of the species 

 here enumerated and described (Vespertilio murinus or discolor , 

 Myotis dasycneme^ M. bechsteini^ M. myotis) are so rare as British 

 examples that they are often refused admittance into lists of 

 British mammals, and their few undisputed occurrences are 

 attributed to accidents or the result of high winds. Seeing the 

 flying powers of bats, and the ability of some species at least 

 to swim if thrown into water, the twenty to sixty miles of sea 

 between France and Belgium on the one hand and England on 

 the other ought not to deter the bats of Continental Europe 

 from colonising Britain. Assiduous efforts, therefore, should be 

 made to collect and identify bats throughout Great Britain and 

 Ireland. 



