THE PROPER BATS. 



47 



white or yellowish upon a chestnut ground: the under parts appear 

 pure white — (Fig. by Kuhl in Neue Ann. Wett. Gesellsch. pi. 25, fig. 1.) 



4. VESPERTILIO SEROTINUS THE SEROT1NE BAT. 



This is a very common European species, and is widely distributed 

 from the north to the south over the Continent ; in Britain it has hi- 

 therto been found only in the vicinity of London. It lives in cavities of 

 old trees, piles of wood and ruins, prefers the neighbourhood of water, 

 flies slowly in dim twilight, and utters a piercing cry. The muzzle is 

 long and nearly naked at the point ; the ears are wide asunder, of me- 

 dium size, and clad at their external base ; the tragus is leaf-shaped and 

 arched, with a round point ; the tip of the tail projects beyond the 

 membrane about a line and a half. There are odoriferous glands at the 

 side of the muzzle of a pale yellow colour. The fur is of medium length, 

 fine and silky. The male, above, is chestnut brown, beneath dull ash 

 brown. The female, rosy brown above, and yellowish-grey beneath ; the 

 muzzle, ears, and membranes, black. Extreme length about five inches, 

 breadth fourteen. — (Fig. in Bonap. Faun. Ital.) 



5. VESPERTILIO AURITUS.— THE LONG-EARED BAT. 



The ears of this species are nearly as long as the body, reaching to an 

 inch and a half; they are inclined to the side, and have a longitudinal 

 fold reaching almost to the lips ; the tragus is straight, long, and pointed, 

 with an external lobe at its base ; the head is depressed ; the snout long 

 and pointed, and almost naked; the odoriferous glands on each side yel- 

 lowish. The fur is long, black at the base ; the membranes are naked, 

 and those of the ears brownish-grey. Both sexes have the superior parts 

 of a reddish ash grey, the inferior of a pale yellow-grey. The extreme 

 length is about three and a half inches, the expanse ten, though those 

 of the south of Europe are somewhat larger than our northern specimens. 

 This species is one of the most widely distributed over the temperate 

 and warmer regions of Europe ; it is common in most parts of England, 

 and in many parts of Scotland ; it is also found in the north of Africa. 

 It frequents great towns and villages rather than wooded districts, flying 

 with a steady motion along narrow streets and alleys, and hybernating in 

 towers and steeples. Mr Bingley says they have no peculiarly offensive 

 smell (Fig. in Magaz. de Zool. II. pi. 2 and 3.) 



6. VESPERTILIO NATTERERI NATTERER'S BAT. 



The Bat denominated Natterer's by Kuhl and Temminck is the reddish- 

 grey Bat of Mr Bell and some other English authors. It is found in 

 Germany and Britain, in Holland, and the shores of the Adriatic. It 

 has been found in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Kent, but we believe 

 not in Scotland. Mr Bell received three individuals from a shaft in a 

 chalky cavern seventy feet deep, together with some of the preceding 

 species, and the Barbastelle and Whiskered Bat still to be described. 

 Its extreme length is about three inches, its breadth nine. Its muzzle 

 is very short, scarcely extending beyond the bushy hairs of the face. The 

 ears longer than the head, and without any distinct lobe ; the tragus is 

 long, filiform, and pointed ; and there is a range of hairs at the margin 

 of the interfemoral. The fur is very bushy and long, especially about 

 the head and neck. Above, the hairs are brown at the base, and mouse- 

 coloured at the tip ; the tint of the neck is rosy, and of the under parts 

 white (Fig. in Temm. Mon. II. pi. 50.) 



7. VESPERTILIO DAUBENTONII DAUBENTON'S BAT. 



We owe our first acquaintance with this species to M. Leisler, and 

 it has been subsequently noticed by Kuhl and Desmarest. Temminck 

 says, that its habitat is the centre and south of Europe, and that it is 

 never seen in the north. According to Mr Bell, however, the Emargi- 

 natus of Mr Jenyns is the species now under consideration, and it has 

 been captured by Mr Yarrell in Middlesex, as well as in Northampton- 

 shire ; and in Scotland by Dr Fleming in Fifeshire, and by Sir William 

 Jardine in Dumfries-shire. Its total length is about three and a half 

 inches, its extreme breadth about 10. The muzzle is short; the gape 

 small ; the ears nearly oval, and the tragus shaped like the willow leaf; 

 the tail is very long, and free at the point to the extent of about two 

 or three lines ; the flank membranes are clad, and that of the fore-arm 

 surrounded with very fine hairs. Odoriferous glands, of a white colour, 

 are visible below the eyes. The fur is short, felt-like, and smooth ; the 

 membranes are clad both above and below, and hairs so small as to be 

 scarcely visible to the naked eye cover the leg, and form a border to the 

 interfemoral membrane. The superior parts are of a reddish-brown co- 

 lour, the inferior parts of a greyish-white. To this species MM. Keyser- 

 ling and Blaisius refer the V. Mdilk, a species lately proposed to be 

 introduced by Mr Jenyns (Fig. in Bonap. Faun, Ital.) 



8. VESPERTILIO MYSTACINUS.— THE WHISKERED BAT. 



The head of this Bat is very small, and covered, like the rest of the 

 body, with ample fur, a tuft of woolly hairs forming a striking moustache 

 along the upper lip, which covers the under one. The ears are oval and 

 not notched, the tragus lancet-shaped, but blunt at the point ; the odori- 

 ferous glands in front of the eyes are of a citron yellow colour. The 

 colour of the whisker is blackish-brown ; the superior parts of the body 

 are covered with long black hair, rufous tipt, the under are whitish ; 

 the membranes are much covered with the fur. Its extreme length is 

 about three inches, and its breadth eight. Temminck states this species 

 as rare. Leisler discovered it in Germany ; Mr Gray pointed it out as 

 British, and both Messrs Jenyns and Yarrell have seen it in England. 

 Its winter abode is said to be in old houses, hollow trees, and caverns; 

 it has a preference, too, it is said, for limpid waters, near which its flight 



is rapid, skimming along near the surface (Fig. in Temm. Mon. II. pi. 



51.) 



9. VESPERTILIO EMARGINATUS.— THE NOTCHED-EAR BAT. 



The size and general form of this species, which was first described 

 by M. Geoffroy, very nearly approximate to those of the preceding, 

 with which therefore it may very readily be confounded. The distin- 

 guishing characters are the notch upon the external margin of the ear, 

 the want of the moustache, and the reddish robe of the Notched ear. 

 The ears are oblong, and as long as the head ; the tragus long, awl-shaped, 

 and pointed ; they are well clad near the base. The colour of the head 

 and upper parts is red, clouded with yellow and brown ; all the under 

 parts are ash-coloured, with a reddish tint, the ears and membranes dull 

 brown. The entire length is three inches three lines ; the breadth nine 

 and a half inches. This species has been found in England, Holland, 

 France, and Italy, but not in Germany. During the day it keeps its re- 

 treat ; with the twilight it appears ranging with rapid wing for its food 

 along lakes and stagnant waters (Fig. in Bonap. Faun. Ital.) 



10. VESPERTILIO PIPISTRELLUS.— THE PIPISTRELLE, OR 

 COMMON BAT. 



This Pipistrelle of Dauhenton and Schreber is the common Bat of 

 Pennant ; this last a name which was long given in this country to the 

 Murinus, but which is thus much better merited by the present species. 

 It is, according to Mr Jenyns, the most common kind in England, and 

 according to Mr Macgiliivray, who has given a minute description of it, 

 (Nat. Lib.) it is very abundant in Scotland; it is widely spread over all 

 the northern parts of Europe, but is rare in the south ; it probably also in- 

 habits Asia, M. Temminck having received many specimens from Japan. 

 It lives in great bands, associating with other small species. The female 



has usually two young ones ; Kuhl says one. This latter author states 



that its hybernation is often interrupted. Its head is small; nostrils wide ; 

 ears small, distant ; tragus leaf-shaped ; odoriferous glands oblong. The 

 fur is abundant and of medium length ; the membranes quite naked. 

 The superior parts are coffee-coloured, the inferior lighter, but not white, 

 a character which distinguishes this species from the Whiskered Bat. 

 The entire length is about three inches, the extent of wings between 

 eight and nine (Fig. Geoff. Ann. Mus. VIII. pi. 47 and 48.) 



The V. Pygmaus of Leach, (Zool. Journ. I.) and V. Minutus of Mon- 

 tagu, (Linn. Tr. IX.) are but the young of the Pipistrelle. 



11. VESPERTILIO BARBASTELLUS.— THE BARBASTELLE 



BAT. 



Seeing no occasion, as already stated, to adopt Mr Gray's new genus, 

 Plecotus, still less will we, with Mr Bell, follow him in introducing 

 another new genus, Barbastellus. The Barbastelle Bat inhabits the 

 temperate and warmer regions of Europe, including Italy, but seems com- 

 mon in none of them. Mr Sowerby first detected it in England (Brit. 

 Miscel.) Mr Montagu mentions (loc. cit.) its occurrence in Devon- 

 shire, Mr Jenyns in some of the Midland counties, and Mr Bell in Kent. 

 The muzzle is extremely short, slender, and obtuse, and the head com- 

 pletely overshadowed by the ears, which are united by the base in front. 

 These appendages are very much developed and wide ; a tuft of hair 

 covers the middle of the auricle, which is naked at the sides ; tragus 

 wide at the base, and slender at the point ; the odoriferous glands are tri- 

 angular. The fur is very long, fine, and silky, and the membranes parti- 

 ally clad on both sides. All the superior parts are black, the abdomen 

 is pure white, the flanks light brown, as are the membranes. The entire 

 length is between three and four inches, the width between nine and ten. 

 — (Fig. Geoff. Ann. Mus. VIII. pi. 46 and 48.) 



12. VESPERTILIO BECHSTEINII BECHSTEIN'S BAT. 



This species, which was discovered by the late Dr Leisler, seems to be 

 very rare in Britain, the only specimens having been taken in the New 

 Forest, by Mr Millard ; in France, too, it is rare, but more abundant to- 



