THE NOCTULE, OR GREAT BAT yy 



Daniell's observations show that he had observed, although 

 not with complete understanding, the use of the inter- 

 femoral membrane by bats as a pouch wherein to secure 

 their prey, and he particularly noticed that, unlike the 

 Pipistrelle, his captive Noctule made no use of this con- 

 trivance. 



In feeding, he wrote, " the wings were not thrown 

 forward as in the Pipistrelle ; and the food was seized 

 with an action similar to that of a dog. The water that 

 drained from the food was lapped, but the head was not 

 raised in drinking, as . . . observed ... in the Pipi- 

 strelle. The animal took considerable pains in cleaning 

 herself, using the posterior extremities as a comb, parting the 

 hair on either side from head to tail, and forming a straight 

 line along the middle of the back. The membrane of the wings 

 was cleaned by forcing the nose through the folds, and thereby 

 expanding them. Up to the 20th of June the animal fed 

 freely, and at times voraciously, remaining during the day 

 suspended by the posterior extremities at the top of the 

 cage, and coming down in the evening to its food : the 

 quantity eaten sometimes exceeded half an ounce, although 

 the weight of the animal itself was no more than ten drachms," 

 an observation which agrees very closely with those of Mr 

 Whitaker,^ who possessed a Noctule which on one occasion 

 actually devoured the enormous number of eight dozen 

 mealworms at a sitting, and which consumed an average 

 of about seven dozen, weighing in all about a quarter of an 

 ounce daily, or about a quarter of its own weight. 



Of four females which came into Daniell's hands on the i6th 

 of May, each was pregnant with a single foetus, but only one 

 survived to bring it to a natural birth. Of this one it 

 is related that on 23rd June, after exhibiting much rest- 

 lessness for upwards of an hour, she suddenly reversed her 

 usual attitude of suspension by the posterior extremities, and 

 attaching herself by her anterior limbs to a cross-wire of the 

 ^^%^> gave birth to a young one. This, being born on its 

 back, passed into the interfemoral membrane, which was 

 expanded so as to form a perfect nest-like cavity for its 



^ Naturalist,, lyoi,, 325-330. 



