DISTRIBUTION OF THE LESSER HORSE-SHOE BAT. 93 



hiarticulata, Westwoocl), though I looked on scores." This 

 deacriptiou of their haunt agrees very well with that given by 

 Mr. Tomes in Bell's ' British Quadrupeds.' * Mr. Hardy has lent 

 me two of his Irish specimens, one of which measures 9g- in. 

 between the tips of the extended wings, without unnatural 

 distention. I have a white specimen from the collection of the 

 late Mr. Slopur, of Devizes. 



On two females of this Bat, taken by Mr. Ingleby in the Eed 

 Hole, Eavestone, near Eipon, on Christmas Day, 1885, I found 

 two specimens of an orange-coloured Acarus (on the margin of 

 the ear of one of them) and two of a Nycterihia, since identified 

 by reference to Prof. Westwood's paper in the Zoological Society's 

 * Transactions ' (vol. i. p. 292) as N. hiarticulata, Hermann. 

 The same parasite was found upon this Bat by Donovan. 

 Perhaps in hybernation the parasite gains more completely the 

 upper hand. In ' The Zoologist ' for 1861 Dr. Kinahan speaks 

 of this Bat as infested with a large and "disgusting-looking" 

 tick ; and the position of the Acari agrees with that of those 

 found on a BarhasteUe by Mr. Gurney, as described in ' The 

 Zoologist ' for 1847. 



In one of the books I have lately consulted it was mentioned 

 that this Bat carried its tail over its back, as is shown in the 

 figure of the Greater Horse-shoe Bat given in ' The Zoologist ' 

 for January. [This observation is made by Couch (Zool. 1853, 

 p. 3941). In the Noctule, on the contrary, the tail is tucked 

 under it, just as a dog puts its tail between its legs. Two living 

 specimens now before us, as they hang suspended, look as if 

 they were tailless. — Ed.] 



In conclusion, while thanking the many naturalists who have 

 answered my inquiries, whether able to help me or not, I may 

 say that I should be glad to hear of any new locality for this 

 Bat, or any British species other than the Pipistrelle, the Long- 

 eared, and the Noctule. I feel sure that if readers of ' The 

 Zoologist ' were to furnish the results of their exi^erience they 

 could put on record a better account of the distribution of these 

 obscure animals in Britain than is at present to be found in any 

 published work. 



'■^'- According to Dr. J. JX. Kinahan the sexes hybernate apart. See an 

 interesting article by him entitled " Three daj's among the Bats in Clare," 

 ' Zoologist,' 1861, pp. 7617-7624.— Ed. 



