138 VESPERTILIONID.E— VESPERTILIO 



In the daytime the Serotine retires to holes, which a num- 

 ber of individuals inhabit in company. They seem to have 

 a preference for cavities under the roofs of houses, and Captain 

 Reid states that they do not object to the presence of other 

 species. Borrer ^ knew of a colony of at least eighteen individuals, 

 while Mr H. G. Jeffery,^ who sent one to Mr J. E. Harting, 

 has described another of about twenty ; but assemblages of 

 numbers rivalling those of the Noctule seem to be unknown. 



Hibernation probably commences for the species as a whole 

 in the latter part of October, but several observers have noticed 

 a few on the wing in November,^ as Mr Percy Wadham in the 

 Isle of Wight until the loth ; he remarks, however, that these 

 late-flying specimens haunt unusual places, and restlessly 

 change their beat every few minutes. The dates of first spring 

 appearances have not been placed on record. 



Nothing is known definitely about the breeding habits, 

 except statements by continental naturalists (Blasius and Kuhl) 

 that only one young one is brought forth at a time, its birth 

 taking place generally in the latter half of May, and that in 

 other respects it is not known to differ from other species. 



A bat of this species is said to have been kept alive by 

 Mr George Guyon* from 3rd January to 7th March 1856. It 

 was taken while hibernating in an old chimney, and immediately 

 after its capture ate some raw meat left with it, and in four 

 days it would take meat from the fingers and allow itself to 

 be stroked. " That it knew me," wrote Mr Guyon, " I would 

 hardly venture to say ; but certainly on one occasion it squeaked 

 in alarm when another person offered to touch it, which it 

 never did with me after the first few days." 



The Serotine is frequently mistaken for the Noctule, but, 

 except in size, the two have few points of resemblance. The 

 generally darker colour of the Serotine, the lighter under side, 

 broader wings, longer and more pointed ears, and lanceolate 

 tragus, very slightly developed post-calcarial lobe, and failure 

 of the interfemoral membrane to extend to the tail tip, are quite 



' Zoologist, 1893, 223-224. 2 ii,i^_^ igg4^ 261. 



3 E.g., Rev. E. N. Bloomfield at Hastings (in lit.) ; also A. G. More, in Wight, on 

 3rd Nov. ; see Life and Letters of Alexander Goodman More, etc., 34, 1898, edited 

 by C. B. Moffat (Dublin : Hodges, Figgis, & Co., Ltd.). 



^ Zoologist, 1856, 5216. 



