/ 



Quadruped a. 7623 



distribution for the species, justify us in considering this the charac- 

 teristic bat of Clare. 



Next, the fact that out of eight caves examined (for we may 

 exclude the chink at Kilcorney as too light) the bats occurred in 

 six, — all of which were either in plantations or close to them, and 

 most of them had their entrances hung with plants, — shows, in 

 addition, that to the proximity of woods, to which the animals can 

 resort in summer, is probably due their selection of these caves. Of 

 the two caves from which the bats were absent, in the great cave at 

 Kilcorney no terrestrial animals could exist through the winter^ 

 owing to the floods ; the second cave, at Inchiqnin, is very small. 



Another point, already put forward by Mr. Foot, which may be 

 looked upon as proven, is the fact that the sexes hybernale apart. I 

 took great pains to be accurate as regards this, and examined every 

 specimen myself individually ; yet out of the fifty-four I only found 

 one female to nineteen bats at BallialUa, and one female to twenty- 

 seven at Edenvale, which occurred in the third cave, and in a sepa- 

 rate part of the cave from that in which its four fellow tenants were 

 hung; and two females were the sole denizens of Vigo cave on our 

 second visit : four to Jifty-four, a very great disparity. It may be 

 recollected that though Mr. Foot records having examined twenty 

 specimens in 1859, he only met with one female. I am sure that we 

 did not leave any part of the caves visited unexamined, except the 

 roof of the last chamber in Vigo cave; and I think it likely that the 

 two females which we met with there had awakened from their hyber- 

 nation, in some other part of the cave, probably this chamber, under 

 the influence of the mild weather, and had gone to sleep again. y 



With regard to the kind of place the bats select, although some of 

 those in Balliallia were dripping with wet, they, as a rule, certainly 

 prefer the dry places, and also, I think, the darkest spots, as they are 

 much more numerous and in a deeper sleep in such parts of the cave 

 as are most deeply sunk in the gloom. On the other hand, it must be 

 recollected that in nearly every case we found specimens in the day- 

 light. In Vigo cave the bat was visible after the candles had been 

 extinguished. 



The numbers found congregated in the one place in Edenvale, and 

 in Balliallia cave, show that solitude is not the constant habit of the 

 bat. They certainly shift their quarters during their hybernation. 

 In the third cave examined at Edenvale I found recent traces of the 

 bats in several places from which the bats were then absent, and the 

 two females captured at Vigo had not been where we found them at 



