384 
‘THE HAIRY-ARMED BAT. 
(Vesperugo Ieisleri). 
(PLATE XLI.). 
ARTHUR WHITAKER, 
Worsbrough Bridge. 
Tuis bat appears to be the least common of the eight species 
which occur in Yorkshire, but it is more than probable that its 
apparent rarity is due to some extent to the species being so 
easily mistaken for the common Noctule Bat (Pterygister noctula), 
a species which abounds, and-to which it bears so close a re- 
semblance as to render it impossible to differentiate between 
them, with certainty, without actually handling them. 
In the British Isles the Hairy-Armed, or Leisler’s Bat has 
been found plentifully in the North East and Eastern Counties 
of Ireland, but is unknown in Scotland, and rare and local in 
England. 
Mr. H. Charbonnier recorded the capture of several bats of 
this species at Mexbrough in May and June, 1890 (Zoologist 
1892, page 329), and Messrs. Clarke and Roebuck mention 
three specimens taken from an old factory chimney at Hunslet, 
near Leeds, ‘about forty years ago,’* and these appear to be 
the only records of the occurrence of this species in our county, 
except for the specimens taken in the neighbourhood of 
Barnsley by Mr. Armitage and myself. 
On May 13th, 1904, Mr. W.. Broadhead, Woodman, of 
Stainbrough, heard some bats squeaking in a slit in the trunk 
of a beech tree which had just been felled. He chopped open 
the hole, but in so doing accidently killed one of the occupants. 
Two others he removed without injury, and the following day 
gave them to me. 
Although from the first I had doubts as to the identity of these 
specimens, I regarded them for some time as being unusually 
small and darkly coloured Noctules; eventually, however, I 
became convinced that they were Leisler’s Bats, and upon one 
of the specimens being submitted to Mr. Oldfield Thomas, I 
was delighted to find that this was actually the case. Shortly 
afterwards Mr. Armitage discovered that he had another 
specimen of this bat, in spirits, which had also been taken at 
Stainbrough in March, 1905. 
* Vertebrate Fauna of Yorkshire, 1881, page 4. 
~ Naturalist, 
