DAUBENTON’S BAT. 163 
be quite unconscious of its existence. It is essentially an aquatic 
species, if such an expression be admissible applied to an animal 
which never enters the water. It haunts that element con- 
tinually, flying so near its surface as to render it difficult to 
distinguish between the creature itself and its reflection. The 
flight, quivering and slow, is performed by very slight but rapid 
strokes of the wings; it may, indeed, be said to vibrate rather 
than fly over the surface of the water. It could not well fly in 
any other manner so near the surface of the water without striking 
it, and this it seldom or perhaps never does, although it often 
pauses to dip its nose into the water, whether to drink or pick 
up some floating food we have been unable to ascertain.” 
According to the observations of Dr. Laver, of Colchester, 
this Bat is not rare in his neighbourhood. Doubleday procured 
_ it at Epping, and observed it flying over the river at Sudbury. 
At Easton, in Norfolk, it has been noted by Mr. Gurney, and 
we have the authority of Mr. F. Bond for stating that specimens 
have been taken at Carlisle. Bell states that the most northern 
locality for this species in England known to him is Durham, 
where the specimens of Vespertilio edilis, Jenyns, subsequently 
identified with V. daubentonii, were obtained. But not only is 
Carlisle somewhat further north, but we find this Bat included 
in Messrs. Meynell and Perkins’ ‘ Catalogue of the Mammalia of 
- Northumberland and Durham,’ where it is stated to have been 
met with at Darlington, Shotley Bridge, Auckland St. Andrew, 
and Long Benton. 
As regards Northumberland, also, the late Mr. Selby, in one 
edition of his ‘Fauna of Twizel,’ doubtfully included V. 
emarginatus, by which name the present species was probably 
intended. 
In Scotland Daubenton’s Bat appears to be pretty widely 
distributed on the mainland, but to be local. It was first 
correctly identitied as a Scottish species by William Macgillivray, 
who, in 1840, captured a specimen in Aberdeen Cathedral (Edinb. 
New Phil. Journ. xxxi. p. 205), where subsequently John Mac- 
gillivray found eighty in two large clusters (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 
Vili. p. 230), and in the same county a specimen was taken by the 
Rey. G. Gordon in the church of Peterculter. It was probably 
this species which Fleming got in Fifeshire (Hist. Brit. An. p. 6), 
and referred to as having been taken near Doyer by M. Brogniart, 
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