1907.] WINTER-HABITS OF CAVE-HA UNTIjSTG BATS. 321 



all its food while in flight, but conveys some to its diurnal resting- 

 place " : I will go further ; it probably conveys ail its food to 

 some resting-place. Even when I gave my captives mealworms, 

 insects which are easily crushed by the powerful jaws of a Greater 

 Horseshoe, they were conveyed to some resting-place vniless the 

 bat refused to leave my hand. Mr. Millais adds a footnote : " I am 

 quite ignorant as to the manner in which these bats carry their 

 food to their retreats, since the interfemoral pouch seems to be 

 incapable of being bent forward." In no bats, to my knowledge, 

 is the pouch used as a receptacle in which to carry food ; the prey 

 is carried, in the most natural manner, in the mouth, firmly secured 

 by the strong teeth. Mr. Millais's statement (p. 30) that the tail 

 is bent forward and the interfemoral membrane occasionally used 

 is pi'obably based on some erroneous observation ; it is the inter- 

 brachial and not the interfemoral membrane which is used. During 

 the whole process of pouching and eating the beetle the posterior 

 portion of the tail i-emains in the recurved position which is so 

 characteristic of the species. 



This refl.exed tail, or, to be more exact, portion of the tail, is 

 constantly in this curious position. In flight the anterior portion 

 of the interfemoral membrane is stretched between the slightly 

 flexed legs ; the end of the tail is upturned ; and when the bat 

 is scrambling or climbing the tail is held in the same position : 

 when at rest the tail is flat upon the back if the wings are half 

 open, or lies partially concealed by the forearms if the animal is 

 closely wrapped in its wings. 



In sleep the position of the wing-membranes is practically the 

 same as in the Lesser Horseshoe (4), but, as a rule, the bats I found 

 were not so completely encircled by the wings as is the case with 

 the smaller species ; the forearms seldom met along the back, 

 whereas in the Lesser Horseshoe one sometimes overlaps the other. 

 In some of the sleeping Greater Horseshoes the tail stood out 

 from the back at an angle of about 30°, in a position I have never 

 observed in the smaller species. Our knowledge of the habits of 

 the Rhinolophidce is slight, and as yet we cannot find that the bats 

 gain any advantage from this recurved tail ; there is, however, the 

 possibility that the tail is rudimentary. 



Occasionally, in captivity, as Mr. Millais noticed, the Greater 

 Horseshoe will sleep with the wings folded along the sides, but 

 this is an unnatural position and is probably accounted for by the 

 impaired health of the captive ; when in good health the bats 

 sleep with the interdigital membranes one above the othei-, in a 

 similar position to that adopted by some, at any rate, of the 

 Pteropudidm. The ears, slightly bent or folded, are hidden beneath 

 the carpal joint. 



The colour of the adult is brown and does not vary in the sexes, 

 but the young are grey ; all the young which I found were 

 naturally much darker than the August young depicted by 

 Mr. Thorburn (5), having more neai'ly acquired the brown pelage 

 of matiu'ity. 



