Feb., 1912. Mammals or Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 449 



over its eyes. When a stick was held in its direct path, it avoided it 

 when three or four inches away. When it wanted to rest it settled 

 on one of the weights of a gas chandelier in quite an orthodox manner, 

 and when a hand was stretched out to capture it, flew off again before 

 it was touched." 



Mr. Henry L. Ward tried similar experiments with another species 

 (Nyctinomus hraziliensis) in Mexico. He says: ''With this species I 

 various times repeated the experiment of Spallanzani made 200 years 

 previous . . . my results were not equal to Spallanzani 's, for 

 although my bats certainly showed remarkable powers of detecting 

 an approach to an object, yet they occasionally would strike against 

 No. 18 wire. However, I fancy that had I like Spallanzani used 

 silk threads, I should not have noted this; but the wire gave an audible 

 record of each touch, no matter how light it was."* 



While most of our Bats hibernate in winter, there is little doubt 

 that a number of our tree-dwelling species migrate to a more or less 

 extent in fall and spring. Dr. C. Hart Merriam has apparently proved 

 this in regard to the Hoary Bat, Nycteris cinereus, and Silvery Bat, 

 Lasionycteris noctivagans,'\ his evidence being largely based upon their 

 occurrence far south of their breeding range in winter, and the appear- 

 ance of the latter species in spring and fall at Mount Desert Rock, 

 some 30 miles off the coast of Maine. Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., found 

 Bats common on Cape Cod., Massachusetts, between August 21 and 

 September 13, but apparently absent before and after that time, J 

 which would seem to warrant the belief that they were migrating. 

 The species observed were the Red Bat, Nycteris borealis, Hoary Bat, 

 Nycteris cinereus, and Silvery Bat, Lasionycteris noctivagans. Dr. 

 Edgar A. Mearns says concerning the Red Bat,§ "It is possible that 

 the species migrates to the south in autumn and returns in the spring. 

 During the latter part of October and the first week of November I 

 have seen great flights of them during the whole day." Another 

 account of the supposed migration of Bats is given by Mr. Arthur 

 H. Howell, 1[ in which he describes seeing Bats flying over Washington, 

 D. C, on the morning of September 28, 1907, a hundred or more 

 being observed between 9 and 10 o'clock. They were flying singly 

 at a height varying from 150 to 400 feet (too far away to admit of the 

 species being positively identified) and usually only four or five were 

 in sight at one time. 



* Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., XIV, 1903 (1904), p. 642. 



t Trans. Royal Soc. Canada, V, Sect. 4, 1888, pp. 85-87. 



t Science, N. S., V, 1897, pp. 541-543. 



§ Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., X, 1898, p. 345. 



H Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XXI, 1908, pp. 35-37. 



