VESPEBUGO. 315 



Habits. Very similar to those of V. abramus. Like that species, 

 the common pipistrelle is very often seen about human habitations, 

 and it has the same rapid flight with frequent very quick turns and 

 descents. It is said to live chiefly on gnats, and may be seen 

 hawking them on smnmer evenings. During the day it hides in 

 crevices of walls, clefts of rocks, or any dry protected hole, less 

 frequently in trees. It appears early in the spring, and is sometimes 

 found abroad on warm days in the winter, and it is usually the first 

 bat to appear in the afternoon. The female bears sometimes one, 

 sometimes two young. 



189. VesperugO kuhli. Tlie luhite-bordered Bat. 



Vespertilio kuhlii, Natferer, Kuhl, Deutsche Flederm. p. 55 (1817). 

 Pipistrellus lepidus, lib/th, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 340 (1845). 

 Nycticejus canus, Bhjth, Cat. p. 32 ; Jerdon, Mam. p. 38. 

 Scotopbilus lobatus, Jerdon, I. c. p. 35 (? Gray, List Main. B. M. 



p. 29). 

 VesperugO (Pipistrellus) leucotis, Dobson, J. A. S. B. xli, pt 2, p. 222. 

 VesperugO kuhlii, Dobson, Mon. As. Chir. p, 94; id. Cat. C/iir. B. M, 



p. 2.30; id. J. A. S. B. xlvi, pt. 2, p. 311 ; Anderson, Cat. p. 131 ; 



Sctdly, A. M. N. H. sex. 5, vol. viii, p. 223 (1881) ; W. Blanf. J. 



A. S. B. Ivii, pt. 2, p. 267. 



Ears larger than in V. abramus, extending when laid forward 

 more than halfway between the eye and the nostril, 

 subtriangular ; tips rounded ; outer margins nearly 

 straight, slightly concave just below the tip, with 

 a small emargination opposite the base of the 

 tragus, and a not very prominent lobe (much less 

 ^^^l^^I■''hr^^l^ h ^*^^''^'*^-^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^' "^'"""'^'O fit the end behind 

 son "moh As! the angle of the mouth. Inner margin nearly 

 Chir.) ' straight. Tragus rounded at the tip, broadest 



below the middle of the inner margin, which is straight ; outer 

 margin convex, especially in the middle, and having a small pointed 

 lobe at the base. 



In other details of structure (except in the teeth) there is no 

 important difference from F. abramus. The outer upper incisors 

 are very short, only about one fourth the length of the inner, which 

 are long and pointed, not bifid. 



Colour of fur yellowish or greyish brown above, paler, often whitisli , 

 below, the basal two thirds to three fourths of the hairs black, both 

 above and below. Some specimens are much darker than others. 

 Membranes and ears usually dark, the hinder border of the inter- 

 femoral and wing-membranes more or less bordered witli white. 

 In specimens from Cutch, Sind, Baluchistan {Pijnstrellus lepidus, 

 Blyth, P. leucotis, Dobson), and the neighbouring countries the tips 

 of the fur are light yellowish brown, the ears, interfemoral and 

 antebrachial membranes, and wing-membrane near the sides of the 

 body are white, and the remainder of the wing-membrane traversed 

 by white reticulations. 



