﻿6 OLDHAM, On some Habits of Bats. 



are quite straight during sleep. Excrement was voided 

 by the bats that we took away with us, and two which we 

 chloroformed on the spot had faecal matter in the lower 

 part of the intestine ; one had also a little half-digested 

 matter in the stomach. 



The structural differences which have led systematists 

 to separate the Horseshoe Bats (Rhinolophidae) from the 

 Vespertilionidae, the family to which all the other British 

 species belong, are accompanied by equally marked 

 diversities of habit. The attitude of the creatures in 

 repose is strikingly dissimilar. The photographs of 

 Leisler's Bat (Pterygistes leisleri) and of the Long-eared 

 Bat show that in these species, as in others of the 

 Vespertilionidae, the tail is bent downwards and forwards 

 beneath the belly : the greater part of both dorsal and 

 ventral surfaces of the body being, however, exposed. In 

 the Long-eared Bat the enormous ears are folded away 

 beneath the wings and only the tragus is visible. The 

 fore limb is bent at the elbow, the upper arm being 

 directed backwards and slightly outwards ; the forearm is 

 held parallel to it, but pointing in the opposite direction, 

 whilst the fingers and their connecting wing-membrane 

 are folded loosely along the sides of the body. The legs 

 are flexed. In the Lesser Horseshoe Bat the legs, as 

 already stated, are perfectly straight ; the tail instead of 

 being carried beneath the body is reflexed so as to cover 

 the lower part of the back ; the upper arms are laid 

 diagonally across the back, the elbows meeting at the 

 lumbar region where they touch the tip of the reflexed 

 tail ; the forearms, bent sharply at the elbows, are laid 

 lengthwise along the back so that the wrists flank the 

 ears on either side ; and the fingers with their connecting 

 wing-membrane are folded over the ventral surface of the 

 body so as to completely envelop the creature with the 



