Northern Nc%vs. 151 



mainly vipon touch and hearing, and large eyes would obviously 

 be a disadvantage to it in its burrowing operations. 



There is no doubt that a bat uses its true eyesight 

 to some extent. In captivity I have observed one display 

 considerable uneasiness at the flashes of lightning during a 

 thunder-storm. It would start at each flash, and upon an 

 unusually bright one it once or twice threw one wing quickly 

 over its face, and then gradually withdrew it. Of the thunder 

 it seemed to take no notice, as before mentioned. 



A Lesser Horseshoe Bat {Rhiiiolophus hipposiderus, see Plate 

 XIV., figs. 2-3) which I allowed to fly about in a room with a 

 large mirror about six feet by four at one end, kept persistently 

 flying at the mirror, and though it never actually touched it, it 

 hovered in front of it in such a way as to indicate clearh* that it 

 was in some way deceived by it. This is the more curious, as 

 the window of a room, which one would naturally have thought 

 would be the more deceptive of the two, never seems to deceive 

 a bat at all, though I have known one eff'ect a very speedy 

 escape through a small hole in the pane of a wash-house 

 window. By swinging round an artificial fly at the end of a 

 long fishing line and rod, I have attracted several Noctule 

 Bats, which circled round ten or a dozen times, closeh' following 

 the fly, and probably guided by sight. 



The strong predilection of bats for dark corners is also 

 suggestive. In one case which came under my observation this 

 instinct was attended with disastrous results. A Long-eared 

 Bat [Plecoitis aiiritus, see Plate XIV.., fig. 4) which I had 

 obtained one day, was placed, on my arrival at home, in the 

 first receptacle handy, which happened to be a box containing 

 several large shells. In obedience to its usual desire to try to 

 get into the darkest corner, the bat squeezed itself so far into 

 one of the shells as to be unable to extricate itself again, so that 

 on opening the box a few hours later I found it dead, and 

 wedged so firmly in the shell that I had difficulty in withdrawing 

 it (see Plate XIV., fig. 5). 



This brief review seems to indicate that the Cheiroptera have 

 all the five senses well developed. The photographs, reproduced 

 on Plate XIV., have very kindly been taken for me by my friend 

 Mr. E. H. Wakefield. 



Mr. Edgar R. Waite, formerly of Leeds, and at one time Editor of the 

 Naturalist, and recently Zoologist at the Australian Museum, Sydne}-, has 

 been appointed Curator of the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, New 

 Zealand. 



igo6 May i. 



