COMMON BAT, PIPISTRELLE OR FLITTER-MOUSE 109 



lips pinkish white, but the fur was only slightly paler than usual 

 (Charbonnier, Zoologist, 1901, 472). 



Very little is known about the geographical variation of this species. 

 Eastern European examples are larger than those of the west, and 

 particularly of Britain. They have been distinguished as the sub-species 

 macropterus ( Verhandlungen der kaiserlich-kdniglichen zool.-bot. Gesell- 

 schaft (Vienna), xii., 1862, 250), described by Zeittelles, from Kaschau, 

 Hungary. Cabrera's sub-species mediterraneus, of the east of Spain, is 

 of a clearer red colour, and is said to present some structural differences. 

 Blanford states that Indian examples from dry, sandy regions are paler, 

 and sometimes have the underside almost white, and this is the case 

 also in the deserts of Turkestan, where the representative sub-species is 

 lacteus of Temminck (Thomas, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., March 1909, 

 258), and of a Quetta specimen in the British Museum. 



DIMENSIONS IN MILLIMETRES ^ :- 



1 For these I am partly indebted to Whitaker. The table suggests that, as in the Noctule, 

 females may be slightly larger than males. 



Four young males in the Dublin Museum, taken at Bohoe Church, 

 Co. Fermanagh, Ireland, by Lyster Jameson, have the forearm measur- 

 ing 19-5, 24-5 (two), and 26-5 respectively. Couch {Zoologist, 1853, 

 3942) found the extent of wing varying between 175 and 210. The 

 following approximate dimensions of an embryo almost ready for 

 birth were sent me by Coward: — head and body 25, ear 3-5, tail 10, 



L 2 



