BRITISH MAMMALS 



In the Greater Horse-shoe Bat the expanse of wings varies in different 

 individuals, and the females, as in many other species, are larger than the males. 



The specimen figured in the Plate obtained in the flesh from Wells, 

 Somersetshire, tov^^ards the end of September 19 19, measured 12J inches 

 from tip to tip of wings, but examples occur of larger dimensions, even 

 up to 355 millimetres (about 14 inches), according to the late Major 

 Barrett-Hamilton . 



The fur, usually brighter in the females, is a warm tawny grey in colour, 

 and paler on the under parts of the animal. A young one received in 

 September, and represented in the lower part of the Plate, was a soft neutral 

 grey in colour. 



The ears are sharply pointed with an outward bend at the tips, while 

 a prolongation of their outer margin crosses in front of the auditory opening 

 in a horizontal direction and forms a conspicuous lobe called the antitragus. 

 The tragus, which is such a prominent feature in the ears of the 

 Vespertilionidae or typical Bats, is absent in the Rhinolophidae or Horse- 

 shoe Bats. The remarkable nasal appendage is formed like a horse- shoe 

 in the lower section, from about the centre of this, between the nostrils 

 arises a horn-like protuberance standing out from the face, while above, the 

 fi-ontal leaf narrows to a point over the forehead. The complicated form 

 of this curious ornament may perhaps be best understood by referring to 

 the sketch forming the tailpiece. Nervous and highly sensitive, it is well 

 supplied with glands, and although its true ftmction is apparently not yet 

 fully understood, it is probably a means of communicating to the Bat an 

 impression of its surroundings, independently of the eyesight. The small 

 and deeply set eyes are more conspicuous than in the Lesser Horse-shoe Bat. 



The wings are very broad and arise from the tibia just above the ankle, 

 their wide expanse of membrane no doubt accounting for the ease and 

 buoyancy of flight in this species. 



