THE NOTCH-EARED BAT 



189 



never once, so far as I could see by lying down to watch it, 

 even touched anything with the tip of its wings. An attempt 

 on my part to catch it caused it to fly up to the ceiling, and 

 just below this it commenced circling round and round rapidly, 

 repeatedly dipping to pass under a beam crossing the centre of 

 the ceiling. I tried holding a walking-stick perfectly still in 

 its path, but it would swerve suddenly when but a few inches 

 from it. After flying for over twenty minutes it suddenly 

 settled on a chain supporting one of the weights of the gas 

 chandelier, and that it could settle in such a place is in itself a 

 wonderful proof of the accuracy of this ' second sight.' 



" I stood on a chair and approached my hand very slowly in 

 order to catch it again, but when my hand was within about a 

 foot of it, it commenced to turn its head nervously and jerkily 

 from side to side (an action characteristic of a bat when dis- 

 turbed), and flew again before I could get hold of it. 



" Eventually I was obliged to get out my butterfly net to 

 catch it, and even then had some little difficulty. . . . 

 . " When I caught my bat again I found the wax still adher- 

 ing properly and quite covering the eyes." 



Natterer's Bat, should a tolerable view be obtained of it, is 

 one of the easiest of all British species to identify while on the 

 wing. The light colour of the under parts, the long ears — 

 longer than those of any species except the rare Bechstein's and 

 the Long-eared — and the general size, which is about a quarter 

 as large again as the Pipistrelle, Daubenton's, or Whiskered Bat, 

 form an unique combination amongst British species. 



[THE NOTCH-EARED BAT. 



MYOTIS EMARGINATUS (Geoffrey). 



A few lines are necessary in regard to other reputedly British 

 species of this genus. 



Of these the present was described and figured by Isidore 

 Geoffroy in 1806,^ and redescribed in error by J. H. Blasius 

 •n 1853.^ Geoffi-oy's types came from Abbeville, France, and 

 the inclusion of the species in the British list is due to his 



' Ann. du Museum d'Hist. Nat, viii., 198. 



- As ciliatus, Wiegmann's Archiv fur Naturgeschichte, XIX., i., 288-293. 



R 2 



