3. THE ZOOLOGIST. 



was intended to close the nostrils -when not in use ; Bell regards 

 it as a delicate organ of touch, enabling the owner to avoid 

 collisions when threading its way through intricate places. 



Two species of the genus are found in the British Islands, 



the Greater and the Lesser Horse-shoe Bats, Rhinolophus 



ferrum-equinum and R. Jtij^posideros. Both are partial to dark 



caverns and deserted buildings, shunning the hght as much as 



possible, and flying late in the evening until dark. 



On the wing^the Greater Horse-shoe Bat appears as large as 

 a Noctule, equalling that species in expanse of wing, but to a 

 practised eye it is distinguishable by the proportionately greater 

 width of the flying membrane. It was first made known as a 

 British species by Latham, who procured specimens in the 

 saltpetre-houses at the powder-mills at Dartford, clinging in a 

 torpid state in winter to the roof. Since then it has been met 

 with and procured in several other localities in the southern and 

 western counties of England, including Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, 

 and Glamorganshire, being considered rare in the midland 

 counties, and altogether unknown in the north. (See ' Zoologist,' 

 1884, p. 483). 



The Lesser Horse-shoe Bat, R. hqjposideros, which was for 



some time regarded as a small variety of the larger species, was 



first recognised in England by Montagu, who procured specimens 



in Wiltshire, and like its larger congener is chiefly restricted to 



the southern counties of England. 



In Ireland the larger species is unknown, but the smaller 



one has been found in Galway by Prof. King, and in different 

 parts of Clare by Mr. Foot and Prof. Kinahan. (See Proc. Nat. 

 Hist. Soc, Dublin, vol.ii. p. 152, and 'Zoologist,' 1861, p. 7617). 

 All the caves in which specimens were found (in Clare) were in 

 plantations, or near them, and most of them had the entrances 

 hung with plants. Prom the observations of Prof. Kinahan it 

 appears that the sexes hybernate apart. The particular respects 

 in which the two species of Rhinolophus differ have been pointed 

 out by Bell {op. cit. p. 100), and need not therefore be repeated 

 here. 



As few really good figures of Bats are accessible, those in 

 Bell's work being almost too small to be of much use, it is very 

 desirable that no opportunity should be lost of obtaining correct 

 drawings of the rarer species whenever they can be procured 



