﻿Manchester Memoirs, Vol xlix. (1905), No. 9. 3 



stick two feet from the floor, was 43° F. ; the thermometer 

 registered 3i°F. in the open air at the same time. On the 

 evening of February 9th the temperature was 40°F. in the 

 tunnel and 3i°F. outside. If a bat is hibernating in a 

 crevice or suspended from the roof or wall where the rock 

 is much broken, it may easily escape notice ; but it is a 

 conspicuous object when hanging in a place where the 

 tunnel is cleanly cut through the sandstone rock, and I 

 have more than once found individuals in situations which 

 they certainly had not occupied when I visited the place 

 shortly before. This clearly indicates some measure of 

 activity during the winter. On December 24th, 1898, I 

 found one of these bats in a conspicuous position in a 

 tunnel which I had carefully searched on several occasions 

 during the previous two months. On January 27th, 1899, 

 I took one from a tunnel which I had been in repeatedly 

 during the winter ; I could not possibly have missed this 

 bat had it then been where I found it. On December 24th, 

 1899, I found one in a spot which it certainly was not 

 occupying when I searched the tunnel on December 10th. 

 Similarly on February 2nd, 1900, January 4th, 1901, and 

 January 7th, 1 901, I found a Long-eared Bat where none 

 had been a few days previously. 



Even during their period of activity, from spring to 

 autumn, the diurnal sleep of bats is profound. The 

 heart beats feebly, respiration is diminished, and the tem- 

 perature falls. The creature, if taken in the hand, feels 

 cold and lifeless, and some time elapses before, with 

 sneezes and spasmodic twitchings of the limbs, it emerges 

 from its lethargy, an epitome of restless activity and 

 pulsating life. The phenomena of normal sleep are inten- 

 sified during hibernation ; but, even if other proof were 

 lacking that the winter sleep is broken, it is highly impro- 

 bable that the vital functions would be so far in suspense 



