168 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



has not been satisfactorily identified there,* the case is apparently 



otherwise in Ireland. For there is reason to believe that some 



specimens of a large bat taken at Tandragee, Co. Armagh, and 



reported to be Vesperugo leisleri, were in reality V. noctula. To 



be more explicit. In ' The Zoologist ' for July, 1874, Mr. R. M. 



Barrington gave a very interesting account (pp. 4071 - 4074) of 



the discoverj', in June, 1868, of a colony of large bats in the 



demesne of the Duke of Manchester at Tandragee, Co. Armagh, 



and of the subsequent capture of several (presumably of the 



same species) at the same place in May, 1874. Mr. Barrington 



identified them as V. leisleri, observing (p. 4072) "they were all 



of the hairy-armed species. I have presented two specimens to 



the British Museum." These two specimens, at our particular 



request, were examined by Dr. Dobson in 1876, when preparing 



his Monograph of the Asiatic Chiroptera, and he pronounced 



them to be immature examples of V. noctula. Considering his 



intimate acquaintance with this order of mammals, it seems to 



us that this circumstance establishes the fact of the occurrence 



of the Noctule in Ireland, while it does not necessarily invalidate 



other records of the occurrence in the same country of Leisler's 



hairy-armed bat.t We would earnestly invite the attention of 



Irish naturalists to this matter, and beg them to re-examine such 



specimens as they may possess, or have access to, and favour us 



with their conclusions. It may be useful to add, in the words 



of Dr. Dobson, that in all respects, except in the relatival size and 



position of the incisors, V. leisleri resembles V. noctula, and 



appears on an external examination to be but a small form of 



that species. But while the outer incisor on each side in 



V. noctula is but half the transverse diameter at its base of the 



inner incisor, in this species it is equal to it ; the lower incisors 



also stand in the direction of the jaws, and are not crowded. 



Length of an adult male V. leisleri (preserved in alcohol), head 



and body, 2'3 in.; tail, 1"05 in.; head, 0*7 in.; ear, 0*6 in,; 



■!= Fleming (Brit. An., p. 6) identified the Vespertilio auriculatus of 

 Walker's ' Fauna Scotica ' with V. noctula, and this species is stated by Sir 

 Wm. Jardine to have been "seen" near the Eiver Annan in Dumfriesshire 

 (New Stat. Acct. Dumfries, p. 175), but its occurrence in Scotland has not 

 been confirmed. 



I Cf. Bell, p. 27. Zool. 1874, pp. 4071, 4'236 ; Zool. 1875, pp. 4419, 4532; 

 Zool. 1883, p. 116. 



