vie)  Grabham: Yorkshire Bats. 
curious kind of parasite! So troublesome did these become 
that, as no remedy was forthcoming, preparations were made 
for pulling down part of the house, and on the work being 
commenced, no less than between two and three hundred Bats 
were found between the laths and plaster. Unfortunately none 
of these Bats or parasites have been preserved. Bell’s ‘British 
- Quadrupeds’ is still the standard work on the subject, and the 
account he gives of the British Bats is excellent as far as it 
brick, the next evening, before dusk, I have fastened a small 
piece of netting over the hole ; the Bats in due course fly into it, 
get entangled, and are easily captured. They will sometimes 
come down to a lantern or light-coloured object thrown up in 
the air, They are not infrequently caught with a fly, and when 
hybernating may be found together in great numbers; but unless 
wanted for scientific purposes, it is a very great pity to kill 
them; they are perfectly harmless, and do much good by 
preying on cockchafers and other beetles. How the expression, 
‘blind as a Bat,’ originated, I know not; for not only have all 
our Bats eyes of considerable size, but that they can and do use 
them I have had ample proof; though from some interesting but 
cruel experiments that were made some time ago by Spallanzani, 
it was proved that they depended ‘on the exquisite sense of 
_ touch of the whole surface of the flying membrane’ to tell them 
‘of the approach of any solid body when threading their way 
through the branches of trees, etc. hen Messrs. Clarke and 
Roebuck brought out their list of Yorkshire Vertebrates—of 
which most useful work I would fain see a new edition—six species 
Of Bats were recorded for the county; now the number has — 
advanced to eight; and I see no reason why, with further investi- 
gation, a still greater increase should not be made. Of these eight 
species, seven are in my own collection. To take them in order :— 
r. esperugo noctula. The Noctule or Great Bat. 
Sometimes called V. altivolans, owing to its habit of hawking 
about very high up in the air; is common throughout the 
“Naturalist, 
