7622 Quadrupeds. 



grown. Mr. Foot seemed to tliink that the fact of some of these bats 

 being met with in wet parts of the cavern was due to their roosting- 

 place having become wet subsequently to its selection. 



We then proceeded to Ennis, and, Dr. George O'Brien kindly 

 accompanying us, we drove out to Edenvale. Here we examined 

 three caves, likewise in the limestone, the general external features of 

 which were all similar ; they are situate in a dense old plantation : 

 the entrances of the caves were hung with ivy, and the variety of 

 Ctenopteris vulgaris already spoken of. 



In the first cave, which is of considerable extent, and very wet in 

 parts, we met with twenty-one bats ; the gieater part of them hung in 

 company, in a tolerably dry side-alley of the cave. I examined the 

 bats, and found all here to be males. The moths occurred in this 

 cave also. The second cave, which is very small and low, I exa- 

 mined alone ; it was very dry. I only found one male bat. The last 

 cave examined is very capacious, with numerous side passages, some 

 of which are so low and narrow as to oblige you to crawl through 

 them ; there are ponds of water, too, which require caution. Here we 

 met with five bats, one of which was a female; they were scattered 

 through different parts of the cave, all in the dark, and the female 

 was hanging alone. Spiders, gnats and wood-lice also occurred. 

 The narrow passage terminates rather abruptly in a deep well, which 

 might easily entrap an incautious explorer. 



The last opportunity I had of exploring a bat cave was on Easter 

 Monday (April 1), a lovely spring day, the first of the season ; when, 

 being again in the neighbourhood of Vigo, we paid that cave a second 

 visit. 1 found two bats only, the weather having been mild and open 

 for some days previously, as was shown by the numerous wheatears 

 (seen for the first time in the Burren on the 27th of March) flitting 

 about, and by the chiffchaff, which, for the first time, I heard this 

 day in every grove and plantation I passed through. Singularly 

 enough both the bats were females, though on our previous visit, 

 more than three weeks before, all the four specimens met with were 

 males. We did not revisit the other caves in this neighbourhood. 



From these observations one or two general deductions may be 

 drawn. In the first place, the number of specimens met with (fifty- 

 four) being all of the same species, coupled with the fact that it 

 has occurred at places as far apart as Inchiquin, Ennis and Quin, 

 according to Mr. Foot, to which must also be added the neighbour- 

 hood of the town of Galway (as shown by a specimen captured by 

 Prof William King in 1858), giving an extensive Irish range of 



