270 BATS. 



considerable distance ; their tragus being also large. The general colour, like that 

 of all British bats, is sombre, being brownish-grey above and paler on the under- 

 parts. This bat has a very wide geographical distribution, being found over the 

 greater part of Europe, in Northern Africa, and probably also in most of the 

 temperate regions of Asia ; so that its known range extends from Ireland in the 

 west to the Darjiling Himalaya in the east. 



In the great development of its ears, as well as in the presence of groovings on 

 the nose (which in other forms of the group develop into incipient nose-leaves), 

 the long-eared bat and its allies occupy the highest, or most specialised position 

 among the typical bats. This large size of the ears is in all probability connected 

 with the nocturnal habits of this species ; and it would appear that these organs to 

 a large extent serve the same purposes as the large nose-leaves of the horseshoe- 

 bats. That the long-eared bat is mainly nocturnal in its habits is clearly stated 

 in the second edition of Bell's British Quadrupeds, where it is mentioned that 

 although this species may often be seen hawking after flies with the short-eared 

 pipistrelle in the evening, yet that it is late in coming forth from its diurnal 

 resting-place, and that its flight is continued throughout the night. The presence 

 of this bat may be recognised by its cry, which, when once known, can always be 

 distinguished from that of all other species; and the author of the work just 

 cited tells us how this cry may be heard at all hours of even the darkest night, 

 whether the listener be in the open fields, in the neighbourhood of woods, or near 

 towns. The cry itself is described as being acute and shrill, although not loud ; 

 but practice only can enable observers to distinguish it from that of other bats. 



In order to protect them from injury during the time that their owner is at 

 rest, the long and delicate ears of this bat are at such times generally carefully 

 folded away beneath the wings ; and since the upright tragus is then left standing 

 alone, the creature looks as if it had only short and slender ears. The ears both of 

 this bat and of its North American ally are relatively longer than in any other 

 animal ; and it is, indeed, probably solely due to the adventitious width communi- 

 cated to the body by the wings that the ears do not appear monstrous and out of 

 all proportion. The long-eared bat is a comparatively small animal, the length of 

 the head and body being just short of 2 inches ; while the ear measures about 

 1J inches, and the spread of the expanded wings reaches 10 inches. 



The favourite hiding-places of these bats in inhabited districts are church 

 towers, or within the roofs of open buildings or outhouses ; and in such places they 

 may be found in the daytime during the summer months hanging in large clusters, 

 and in the winter carefully ensconced in such crannies and nooks as afford the 

 best protection. In a rock-cut tomb in the Libyan desert visited many years ago 

 by the late Professor Leith Adams, the long-eared bats, which were at that time 

 regarded as distinct from the present species, were met with in swarms; "so 

 plentiful were they," writes Professor Adams, " that during my descent into the 

 crypt I was covered with them, while hundreds fluttered about like bees around a 

 hive." In North America and Vancouver Island, the long-eared bat is represented 

 by an allied species, the American long-eared bat (P. macrotis), readily distinguished 

 by some peculiar gland-like swellings in the region of the nose. Its habits appear 

 to be very similar to those of the European species. 



