63 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



five species are tolerably abundant in the neighbourhood of 

 Lilford, and that at least two more, which I have not been able 

 satisfactorily to identify, are occasionally to be met with in the 

 northern division of Northamptonshire. I have no work of 

 reference at hand except Lord Clermont's ' Guide to the Quadru- 

 peds and Eeptiles of Europe,' so I adopt his arrangement and 

 nomenclature. From the habits of the European Bats a close 

 study of the animals in their natural state is almost impossible, 

 but to my mind most attractive ; I have no pretence to any 

 special knowledge on the subject, and my only object in thus 

 addressing you is the hope that my notes may induce some of 

 your readers to turn their attention to this comparatively little- 

 known branch of Zoolog}', and give us the result of their 

 experiences in your Journal. To those who have as yet paid no 

 attention to Bats, it may be useful to mention Dr. Dobson's 

 exhaustive British Museum Catalogue of the Cheiroptera as the 

 standard English work on the subject. 



During my visit to Cyprus in the spring of 1875 I was 

 informed by a fellow-countryman, who had resided for some 

 years in the island, that a considerable amount of damage to 

 fruit was there done by some large Bats : in spite of some search 

 in likely localities we did not succeed in finding any of these 

 animals during our five weeks' stay on the coasts of Cyprus ; but 

 a collector, whom I sent out shortly after the British occupation 

 of the island, sent me some thirty specimens of Cynonycteris 

 collaris in spirits. It is somewhat remarkable that the fruit- 

 eating Bat of Cyprus should be of a different species to that of 

 Egypt and Palestine, C. (egyptiacus. I believe that I am correct 

 in stating that till the receipt of these Collared Fruit-Bats from 

 Cyprus, the species had not been recorded from any locality 

 nearer home than S. Africa. The Zoological Society have for 

 many years past had more or less of this species alive in the 

 monkey-house in the Eegent's Park, where one or more young 

 ones have been produced every year since 1870. I have a pair 

 of these animals at Lilford ; they are very tame, exceedingly 

 cleanly in their habits, and seem to thrive upon almost any sort 

 of fruit, Avith a decided preference for dates, bananas, grapes, 

 and cherries. 



Dysoprs RiippeUi, Temm. — The only specimen of this very 

 curious species that 1 have ever seen alive was brought to me in 



