of the Lesser Horseshoe Bat. 385 



In tlie * Memoires de la Soci^te zoologique de France ' 

 (1907, pp. 21-22) M. Charles Mottaz, Geneva, records the 

 results of an examination of 169 specimens of the Lesser 

 Horseshoe (presumably obtained at or near the place where he 

 lives or somewhere else in Switzerland, though this isnot stated 

 in his paper) as follows : — " Jusqu'ici le resultat de cette etude 

 nous laisse perplexe et ne saurait nous convaincre de la validite 

 de lasous-espece minimus. Eneffet, sur 169 sujets actuelle- 

 ment entre nos mains, mesuies et scrupuleusement Studies, 

 nous avons dti constater que : 1°. Ceux qui rdpondaient aux 

 caract^res du minimus ou qui pouvait etre taxes d'interme- 

 diaires dtaient tons, jeunes [s/c] et vieux, des (^ . 2°. Ceux qui 

 furent classes hipposideros etaient tous, jeunes [s2c] et vieux, 

 des $ . Que conclure? Y a-t-il coincidence fortuite, ou plutot 

 la diiference signal^e serait-elle seulement une question de 

 sexc? .... Pour I'instant nous ne saurions enregistrerdefini- 

 tivement le Rh. hipposideros minimus dans notre faune Suisse 

 ni admettre la validite de cette sous-espece tout au moins 

 pour ce qui concerne les represcntants de notre region." — la 

 a few words : M. Mottaz has come to the conclusion that what 

 1 have taken to be a difference between a southern and northern 

 form of this bat is, in reality, at least in Switzerland, a sexual 

 difference only. 



Although it must be granted, I think, that in committing 

 a mistake of such kind as suggested by M. Mottaz I should 

 have made myself guilty of an almost unthinkable carelessness 

 (a quality of which, I hope, my zoological papers do not in 

 other respects bear too abundant witness), and at the same 

 time been singularly unfortunate in having had before me 

 from the whole area inhabited by minimus males only, and 

 from the whole area of hipposiderus females only; althoug 



M. Mottaz, in dealing with a question of size in a series of 

 individuals, does not give any measurements at all to enable 

 the reader to control the correctness of his results ; although 

 JM. Mottaz, in discussing a question for the decision of which 

 it is of the highest importance to know the exact places in 

 which he obtained the individuals examined, does not give a 

 single locality (they were " recueilli .... partout," is the 

 only intormation given, so that it cannot even be seen with 

 certainty whether they were obtained " partout" in Switzer- 

 land or " partout " in Europe generally) ; although, there- 

 fore, his two " conclusions," as given in his paper, are merely 

 postulates not supported by a single fact or figure ; although 

 the insertion of the word "jeunes " in both of his conckisions 

 admits of one explanation only, viz. that M, Mottaz lacks 

 the necessary training in dealing witli que^stions of this 



