1906.] LESSER HORSESHOE BAT. 853 



Bat," Avliich may have been a Pvpistrellus or a Myotis, having 

 given his captive a " flesh-fly " too large for admission into its 

 mouth, remarks : — '' The animal, raising itself somewhat higher 

 than usual on its fore legs, bent its head with great dexterity 

 under its belly, and forced the insect into its mouth, by thrusting 

 it, from side to side, against that part of the membi'ane Avhich 

 extended betwixt the two hind legs. I cannot be mistaken in 

 this particulai- ; for, during the life of the animal, the experiment 

 was often i-epeated. The manoeuvre was, however, never prac- 

 tised, except where the fly was too large to be ma.naged with 

 facility by the jaws and tongue alone. This confirms what 

 Mr. White has said I'especting the actions of a tame bat that he 

 saw eat ; but it leads us to a very diflerent mode of accounting 

 for them." Bingley adds, in a footnote, that " by the word 

 hovering^ Mr. White seems to mean a kind of tremulous motion 

 which is to be remarked in the animals during this process." 



Mr. Charles Oldham (11 & 12), after making careful observations 

 on a number of different species of Vesfertilionidai, Avas the first to 

 explain the true meaning of the habit. The bat, when fed in an 

 imnatural position — standing on a flat surface — pushes forwards 

 the arms, sujDporting itself on the carpi, and slightl}'' unfolds the 

 wings ; when it has secured its food it depresses its head, moving 

 it downwards towards the tail, which is curved, beneath it, and 

 the head is thus hidden by the interbrachial membrane, giving 

 origin to the " tent " idea of White and others 



In the Rhinolo'phidce, owing to the shortness of the tail and the 

 consequent small interfemoral area, coupled with the fact that the 

 tail is usually i-ecurved ovei' the back, this a,ction is apparently 

 impossible; but in Rh. hijJjwsideruSjUt any rate, a similar method 

 of securing the -prey is resorted to, the interbrachial membrane 

 being used instead of the interfemoral. 



In December 1905 I kept a couple of Lesser Horseshoes alive 

 for several days, feeding them chiefly on mealworms, which are 

 doubtless larger than the insects they habitually feed upon. When 

 I kept this species before, I several times noticed that when 

 an insect struggled in the bat's mouth, the bat bent its head 

 downwards as if about to push the insect into a pouch ; but one 

 of these two bats, a female, actually made use of the interbrachial 

 membrane. Having taken the worm from my fingers, she thrust 

 her head well beneath her body and pushed the captive against 

 the membrane, close to the flank and just anterior to the femur. 

 In order to see the action better, I allowed the bat to hang from 

 my open hand, her feet clinging to my first finger. I could then 

 see the head and worm distinctly through the membi-ane, espe- 

 cially as she remained in the doubled-uj) position on one or two 

 occasions for a period of several seconds. The membralie was 

 pushed into the shape of a bag, an eificient substitute for the 

 interfemoral pouch. The bat did not invariably use one side, and 

 on one occasion she held the worm against her belly. 



When a worm was offered to her she snatched it fiercely, 



