A FEW WORDS ON EUROPEAN BATS. 63 



Seville, in April, 1872, by a man who said that he found it 

 clinging to the old brickwork of an aqueduct just outside the city 

 wall on the road to Alcala de Guadaira. I have received speci- 

 mens from Genoa, and have reason to believe that it is by no 

 means very uncommon in many parts of Italy and Sicily. I 

 found it in the Museum of Palermo, and was informed that it 

 was not rare in that neighbourhood. 



Rhinolophusferriim-equinnm, Bonap. Faun. Ital. — I procured 

 a few of this species alive from some sea-caves near Syracuse, in 

 the spring of 1874. It is common in most parts of Italy, and, 

 as far as my own observation goes, prefers caves or buildings to 

 hollow trees. In England it is by no means abundant. In Spain 

 it is extremely local, and not very common. 



lihinolophus eitryale, Blasius. — This species, intermediate in 

 size between the Greater and Lesser Horse-shoe Bats, I met with 

 in Andalusia in tolerable abundance, and procured many speci- 

 mens in Sicily from small caverns and fissures in ancient 

 quarries. The fur of this species is of a lighter colour than 

 that of either of the other two European Horse-shoe Bats, and 

 lacks the rufous tinge which is generally to be observed in those 

 species. 



Rhinolophus bihastatus, Desm.* — I have received specimens of 

 this Bat from South Devon, where I believe it to be much more 

 common than is generally supposed. It abounds in Southern 

 Spain, Sicily, and the neighbourhood of Algiers, in all which 

 localities I have met with it hanging in clusters in caves and old 

 buildings. The Horse-shoe Bats appear to be very savage and 

 pugnacious, and other species are seldom to be met with in 

 company with them. The flight of this genus is somewhat weak 

 and fluttering, as compared with that of most European members 

 of the order. 



Vespertilio noctula, Desm. — This species, the largest of our 

 British Bats, is common in Northamptonshire, inhabiting the 

 cavities of old ash, elm, and beech trees in colonies of from six 

 to upwards of twenty. It flies high, often out of gunshot range, 

 and is seldom to be seen on wing after the end of August. The 



* The Lesser Horse-shoe Bat. According to Dr. Dobson this should 

 stand as Rhinolophus hijpposideros, Bechstein, Naturg. Deutschl. p. 1194 

 (1801) ; Bhutolophus bihastatus, Geoffrey, Descript. de I'Egypte, li. p. 132 

 (1812).— Ed. 



