BATS. 107 



it may not be the male part of the more known 

 species, one of which may supply many females, 

 as is known to be the case in sheep, and some other 

 quadrupeds. But this doubt can only be cleared 

 by a farther examination, and some attention to 

 the sex, of more specimens. All that I know at 

 present is, that my two were amply furnished with 

 the parts of generation, much resembling those of 

 a boar. 



In the extent of their wings they measured 

 fourteen inches and a half, and four inches and 

 a half from the nose to the tip of the tail : their 

 heads were large, their nostrils bilobated, their 

 shoulders broad and muscular, and their whole 

 bodies fleshy and plump. Nothing could be more 

 sleek and soft than their fur, which was of a bright 

 chestnut colour; their maws were full of food, 

 but so macerated, that the quality could not be 

 distinguished; their livers, kidneys, and hearts, 

 were large, and their bowels covered with fat. 

 They weighed each, when entire, full one ounce 

 and one drachm. Within the ear there was some- 

 what of a peculiar structure that I did not under- 

 stand perfectly, but refer it to the observation of 

 the curious anatomist. These creatures send forth 

 a very rancid and offensive smell. 



XXXVII. 



ON the twelfth of July, I had a fair opportunity 

 of contemplating the motions of the caprimulgus y 

 or fern-owl, as it was playing round a large oak 

 that swarmed with scarabeei solstitiales, or fern- 

 chafers 1 . The powers of its wing were wonderful, 



1 We find the following additional information regarding 

 the goat-sucker, in Mr. White's Miscellaneous Observations : 

 " The country people have a notion that the fern-owl, or 



