18 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



Allen as 

 to be all 



3. Adelonycteris f uncus (Palisot de Beauvois), The Brown Bat. Five specimens. 

 Perhaps the commonest species in the more settled parts of the country. Of wide range. 



4. Atalapha noveboracensis (Ecxleben). The Red Bat. 

 Five specimens, three adult and two young. Our most 

 brilliantly coloured species. Habitat, North America at 

 large, excepting the coldest regions. 



5. Atalapha cinerea (Palisot de Beauvois), The Hoary 

 Bat. Two specimens. Our largest bat. Habitat, 

 Northern regions, occuring southward only at high 

 altitudes. The capture of two specimens at London 

 must be considered highly interesting to the student of 

 zoo geography. 



Of the twenty-eight species treated by Dr 

 North American, the five given above seem 

 that have as yet been found in Ontario. 



Vesperugo carolinensis (Geoff), 

 The Carolina Bat. Ranging from 

 Massachusetts and Pennsylvania 

 southward, will possibly be found 

 in Ontario. 



Upwards of 400 species are 

 known in the world. In the tropics 

 large fruit-eating forms are abund- 

 ant. Those of temperate regions, as 

 our?, are almost exclusively insecti- 

 vorous and as such must, generally 

 speaking, be considered beneficial. 



Occasionally bits find shelter in badly constructed dwellings. There they congregate 

 each morning in increasing numbers and finally, with much chattering and quarrelling 

 they sink into their long hybernatory sleep. 



In some cases the owner of the house, after different attempts to smoke them out 

 with sulphur, is often driven to tearing off boards, and after considerable trouble and 

 expense, gets rid of a colony of one hundred or more. 



The most curious zoological fiction connected with bats is the absurd belief that they 

 are the offspring of bed-bugs. Once a wise-acre of our country-side gravely advanced to 

 me this untenable theory of the origin of bats. While admitting that owing to the simi- 

 larity of their retreats bats might transfer the " bugs " to new quarters, I combatted as 

 best I could the ridiculous statement by showing that it w N as a wholly unnecessary 

 assumption. But lo ! he, as if to demonstrate that " there are more things in heaven and 

 earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy," challenged me to deny that gorillas had 

 crossed over fro.u Africa and had taken an effective part with Wellington in the Penin- 

 sular campaign against the French. In vain I defined the term "guerilla warfare" — he, 

 forsooth, was a captain of our Canadian volunteers, and not wishing to have exemplified 

 on myself his conception of a " gorilla attack," I escaped the dilemma with the diplomatic 



'Fig. 1 Shows a Red Bat hanging 

 by hind feet. Natural size. 



Fig. 2. Profile of 

 head of same. Natur- 

 al size. 



rejoinder that one story seemed as true as the other. 



The Moles and Shrews. 



While we have here to treat of (scientifically speaking) a very different order from 

 the bats, from an economic point of view their similarity is well shown by a quotation 

 from Carl Vogt : " One may, indeed, say with truth that they continue on and under the 

 earth, yes, and even in the water the persistent hunt for insects, snails and all possible 

 vermin, begun by the bats in the air." 



The insectivora is a large order of mostly small mammals, forming one of the primi- 

 tive types of their class. Two families — Talpidse (moles) and Sorecidie (shrews) — are weL 

 represented in the fauna of Ontario. While externally these animals simulate the appear. 



