MAMMALS 



our knowledge of the county mammalia, but since that time the subject has 

 been unaccountably neglected. In 1878 Mr. J. Brooking Rowe revised the 

 mammals in Couch's Cornish Fauna for the Royal Institution of Cornwall, but 

 beyond incorporating the results of Cocks and Bullmore, did not add much 

 that was new. The only one of the Penzance naturalists who gave attention 

 to the subject was the late Mr. T. Cornish, who unfortunately published 

 nothing beyond a few notes. Mr. J. C. Tregarthen, in his Wild Life at the 

 Land's End (1903), gives many strong sympathetic word-pictures of the 

 animal life of the district, but in such a work the majority of the mammals 

 are naturally omitted. The last-named naturalist has most kindly supplied 

 the writer with a number of valuable notes on the larger carnivora of the 

 county, and hearty thanks are due to him not simply for his welcome help, 

 but still more for the spirit in which it has been given. 



CHEIROPTERA 



1. Greater Horse-shoe Bat. Rh'mohpbus ferrum-equinum, 



Schreber. 



Several previous writers on the mammals of the 

 county speak vaguely of this bat being rare, but beyond 

 Bullmore's statement, on the authority of Cocks, that 

 it has been found in a cave situated between Swanpool 

 and Pennance Head, Falmouth, no details appear to 

 have been published as to the occurrence or capture of 

 a specimen west of the Tamar. Up till a few years ago 

 there was a dilapidated example in the museum of the 

 Royal Institution at Truro marked ' Looe, 1 1 th Sep- 

 tember, 1862,' but its history could not be traced. 

 In May, 1901, one of the Liskeard agricultural 

 students brought in an adult female that had been 

 killed in the neighbourhood a few evenings before. 

 The head and body measured 2-25 in. in length, and 

 the tail 1*35 in. 



2. Lesser Horse-shoe bat. Rhinohphus hipposiderut, 



Bechstcin. 



This bat is locally common throughout the county. 

 Couch says, ' In the neighbourhood of Trelawny 

 House this species abounds almost to the exclusion of 

 every other.' It has been captured at Launceston, 

 and a specimen was procured on request by C. Upton 

 Tripp at Altarnun. It has been obtained at Lis- 

 keard, near Fowey, is found occasionally around Truro 

 and Falmouth, and has been reported from Penzance, 

 and either this or the preceding species from Newquay. 



3. Long-eared Bat. Plecotus auritus, Linn. 



This bat well deserves its common name, as its 

 flexible ears are nearly as long as its body. It appears 

 to be common and generally distributed throughout 

 the county. 



4. Barbastelle. Barbastella barbastellus, Schreber. 



Bell Barbastellus daubentonil. 

 This species was obtained by Cocks from a cave to 

 the west of Maenporth Bay, and has been reported 

 from the Lizard and from Newquay, but no specimen 

 has been recorded from the county for the last ten 

 years. 



5. Serotine. VtspertiKo serotinui, Schreber. 



Bell Scotophilus serotinus. . 



One specimen is recorded from Tintagel in 

 Dobson's Catalogue of Cheiroptera in the British 



Museum, and one was obtained near Newquay in 

 1902 by Mr. W. Thomas, who says it is not 

 uncommon about Forth. 



6. Pipistrelle. Pipistrellus pipistre llus, Schreber. 



Bell Scotophilui pipistrellus. 



The flittermouse is decidedly the commonest bat 

 in Cornwall, and appears to be generally distributed 

 all over the county and at Scilly. It has been seen 

 on the wing about Truro in every month of the year. 

 Couch speaking of this bat in Cornwall says, ' It flies 

 at all seasons of the year if the thermometer be not 

 much below 5oF. It awakes in a few hours after 

 the weather has become mild and is not uncommonly 

 seen abroad in the middle of a fine day." 



7. Natterer's Bat. Myotis nattereri, Kuhl. 



Bell VespertiKo nattereri. 



Two specimens of this bat were obtained by 

 Couch from Looe in September, 1852, and Harting, 

 in the Zoologist for 1889, gives Cornwall as coming 

 into its area of distribution. In the autumn of 1900 

 a bat 'quite white below" was reported from the 

 Lizard, and two years later a specimen was obtained, 

 which the hairs on the feet and the bristly margin to 

 the interfemoral membrane towards the tip proved to 

 belong to this species. 



8. Daubenton's Bat. Myofii daubcntmi, Leisler. 



Bell VcspertiRo daubentmii. 



This species was first recorded for the county by 

 Couch in the Zoologist for 1853. Bullmore in his 

 Cornish Fauna gives three instances of its capture in 

 and around Falmouth, and Cocks describes it as 

 not uncommon in that neighbourhood. In 1900 

 Mr. M. H. Williams sent in a specimen for identifi- 

 cation from Pencalenick near Truro, and bats pro- 

 bably of this species are not infrequently seen 

 flying persistently backward and forward over the 

 surface of the ponds there. It is reported by Thomas 

 from near Lostwithiel, and two years ago an example 

 was killed near Constantine. 



9. Whiskered Bat. Myotis mystacintu, Leisler. 



Bell VespertiKo mystadnus. 



The only record of the occurrence of this bat in 

 the county is one that was killed near Fowey in the 

 late summer of 1901 by R. O. Waters of Truro. 



349 



