126 VESPERTILIONID^— PIPISTRELLUS 



body ; it would turn and curl the membraneous part of its 

 tail inwards, forming a complete sack, into which, if it suc- 

 ceeded in getting its prey, it would thrust its head for the 

 purpose of capture." 



Clark's remarks naturally lead up to the more detailed 

 observations of Mr Oldham, which will be found transcribed 

 at length in the account of the Whiskered Bat. It should 

 be remarked, however, that when making his observations 

 Mr Oldham was quite unaware of those which preceded his ; 

 in fact, he is in many respects in a position to correct them, 

 inasmuch as no previous observer had clearly stated that 

 what a bat actually does is to thrust its head, with 

 the insect actually in its mouth, into the interfemoral pouch, 

 its object being to prevent the escape of its prey, should it 

 by any chance break loose during its struggles. Mr Oldham 

 finds, however, that a bat only makes use of the pouch 

 when it has to overcome the struggles of a strong insect ; 

 at other times it is content to devour its prey with its head 

 entirely in the open. 



The inference is that bats make a similar use of the inter- 

 femoral pouch while on the wing, but very few naturalists 

 have sufficiently keen eyesight to follow their evolutions while 

 thus engaged in the open. Amongst the few are the late 

 Frank Norton,^ Professor C. Lloyd Morgan,^ and Messrs E. 

 D. Cuming and Lionel E. Adams, of whom the first named 

 stated that he had often kept tame Pipistrelles in his house, 

 where they had full liberty of the rooms, and appeared to 

 be well content with the diet of flies thus afforded them. 

 When catching a fly, the bat, so far as he could judge, 

 struck its prey a blow with its wing, which disabled it, and 

 then seized it before it reached the ground, using its tail as a 

 basket until it had obtained a firm hold. Mr Cuming writes 

 somewhat similarly in his pleasant book. The Arcadian 

 Calendar,^ and in reply to my inquiry for further details, 

 he adds the information that he has "often watched the 



1 Midland Naturalist, 1883, 149-153, arranged and contributed by H. A. Mac- 

 pherson. 



=* Animal Life and Intelligence (London : Edward Arnold), 1890-1891, 65. 



2 George Newnes, Ltd., London, 1903, 35 (illustrated by J. A. Shepherd). 



