﻿Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlix. (1905), No. 0. 9 



thrusting the head into the pouch formed by the decurved 

 interfemoral membrane. Judging from the small size of 

 this membrane in the Lesser Horseshoe Bat and the 

 position in which it is usually carried — either erect or 

 recurved over the back — it is probable that the habit does 

 not obtain with that species, although Millais (3) asserts 

 that it does with the Greater Horseshoe Bat (Rhi?tolophus 

 ferrum-equinum). The Lesser Horseshoe Bats which I 

 have had under observation have never survived captivity 

 long, and have usually refused food, but I induced one 

 that I obtained in Kent's Hole, Torquay, in April, 1901, 

 to eat a few mealworms. Whether held in my hand or 

 hanging suspended from my finger, the bat carried its tail 

 recurved over its back and made no attempt to tuck the 

 insects into the interfemoral membrane, but twice it bent 

 its head beneath its body and apparently thrust it for an 

 instant into one of its half-folded wings. 



Lesser Horseshoe Bats when liberated in a room 

 exhibit astonishing powers of flight. They lack the bold 

 dash of the Noctule {Pterygistes noctula), and their actions 

 are comparatively slow and fluttering, but they are able 

 to make their way with unerring certainty amongst the 

 furniture and into recesses, sometimes exploring the walls 

 as if to find an exit, but never touching an object with 

 their wings. I have even seen them pass beneath a 

 sideboard raised less than three inches above the floor. 

 They often sail on outstretched motionless wings for a 

 foot or eighteen inches. I have never been able to make 

 out how this species carries its tail in flight, whether erect, 

 recurved, or extended straight behind. The legs show 

 very distinctly against a white ceiling when the bat is 

 viewed from below, but this may be due to the com- 

 parative shortness of the tail and not to its being erecl or 

 recurved. In the Vespertilionidae the tail in flight is 



