1907.] WINTER-HABITS OF CAVE-HAUNTING BATS. 313 



eight yards cand a height of from five to ten feet ; in places the 

 roof is much higher and cuhninates in fissures and hollows which 

 aflford suitable hiding-places for large numbers of bats. The floor 

 is uneven and partially blocked by ancient roof -falls. At the end, 

 beyond a considerable mass of fallen rock, the cavern opens into 

 a small chambei', from which a chimney, blocked by a huge " chock 

 stone," runs upward to a chamber of considerable size. Out of 

 this upper chamber a low passage, in places less than eighteen 

 inches high, extends for some yards; the end of this passsage is 

 blocked, and when I examined it no flicker was noticeable in the 

 flame of my candle, but I was informed that at one time it was 

 possible to feel a current of air near its termination, as if it led to 

 some outlet. From the lower chamber a lime-encrusted shaft, 

 running upwards, may lead to further chambers or to the open. 

 During a portion of my visit I was accompanied by Mr. Charles 

 Oldham. 



In the Long Hole I found Greater Horseshoes occupying a 

 fissure high up in the roof near the entrance. I cannot sny how 

 far within this fissure the bats rested in the daytime, for they 

 were not visible ; it was only after dusk that I saw them emerge 

 from some hole in the fissure. I found other Greater Horseshoes 

 scattered singly in the main tunnel, hanging from the roof or in 

 the water- worn holes with which it is abundantly pitted. In 

 the terminal chamber the bats were in colonies of varying size. 



In one of the caves of the village, which is open for visitors and 

 illuminated by gas, there is, near the entrance, a wide shaft open 

 to the air. Some ten feet from the floor of the cave, and perhaps 

 fifteen feet from the top of the shaft, a small side-chamber opens 

 out of the wall ; the floor of this chamber was thickly covered with 

 old dry dung, mingled with fragments of many beetles, chiefly of 

 the genus Geotrujies. Dr. J. Harold Bailey, who kindly examined 

 all my coleopterous fragments, identified portions of Geotrtqns 

 spiniger Marsh, and of another Geotrupes. The Greater Horse- 

 shoe, as I shall show later, captures some, and in summer jjrobablv 

 all, of its prey outside the caves and conveys it to the interior of 

 the caves before consuming it. The head, elytra, and other 

 portions of the beetles are di-opped whilst the bat is crushing the 

 insect in its jaws. This is undoubtedly a common habit, but bats 

 which go far from the caves in search of food may hang to 

 convenient footholds at bome distance from their diurnal sleeping- 

 places. In captivity the bats rest after a meal and frequently 

 defecate, a habit which probably accounts for the piles of dung- 

 beneath favourite feeding-places in the caves. Both Mr. Cummings 

 and I noticed that oui- captive bats showed a marked preference 

 for cei'tain resting-places, settling again and again within a few 

 inches of the same sj)ot. This chamber in the shaft was pei'haps 

 the only place I came across which appeared to be solely a summer 

 haunt ; it may or maj'' not be occupied as a sleeping-place in 

 summer, but it was undoubtedly a chamber to which numbers 

 retired to feed. 



