4 INTRODUCTION 



the Long-eared), and a flying fox, the latter, of course, exotic. 

 Pennant in his earlier editions (1766 and 1768) recognised only 

 two, which he called the Short-eared and the Long-eared, but 

 in 1776 he added the Great and the Horseshoe, and substituted 

 the Common for the Short-eared. He had taken a similar 

 course in his Synopsis Quadrupedum (1771), wherein these four 

 are definitely mentioned as British, but the Serotine, Pipistrelle, 

 and Barbastelle are noticed as occurring in France. His 

 knowledge of all British species, except the "Horseshoe," had 

 evidently been derived from Gilbert White, who mentions " the 

 great large bat " in his twenty-sixth letter, written on the 8th 

 December 1769, and who, subsequently, in September 1771, 

 ' devoted a complete letter to it as Vespertilio altivolans. In his 

 eleventh letter, dated 9th September 1767, he had noticed the 

 common Vespertilio murinus ^ and the Vespertilio auribus, but 

 at this point his knowledge appears to have ended. More light 

 came from Montagu, who in 1808 distinguished the two Horse- 

 shoes, and from Sowerby, who between 1804 and 1806 detected 

 the Barbastelle as a British species; but Bingley in 1809 and 

 Pennant in 181 2 were able to enumerate only half the species 

 now catalogued. Montagu's name minutus, given to the Lesser 

 Horseshoe, still stands as the first technical name attached to 

 the small British sub-species. Thenceforth progress again 

 lagged. Donovan in 1820 omitted the Barbastelle; as did 

 Gray^ in 1826, together with Leisler's and the Water Bat, but 

 brought up the British list to ten by the help of the Pygmy. 

 Fleming in 1828 reinstated the Barbastelle and the Water 

 Bat, the latter under the name of emarginatus ; but it was not 

 until the year 1835 that the first complete list appeared in 

 Jenyns' Manual. This naturalist had previously corrected 

 a notable error of British students — namely, the confusion 

 of the Pipistrelle, the Common Bat of England, with the 

 Mouse-ear, the "Common Bat"^ of continental writers. He 

 still, however, retained the latter in his list, and added the Parti- 

 coloured Bat, both animals having undoubtedly entered the 



> Called "the little bat" in letter xxvi. of 8th Dec. 1769. 



^ "A List of the Species of Vesperiilionidce found in Great Britain," Zoological 

 Journal, ii., 108-110, 1826. 



^ Myotis myosotis (Bechstein). 



