THE LONG-EARED BAT 195 



and Egypt at least to the fifth Cataract (Bell); and from Ireland to 

 Palestine (Tristram) and Hokkaido, Japan.^ Its area of distribution 

 includes the Islands Malta,^ Sicily (Dobson), Minorca and Ibiza 

 (Cabrera; Barcel6). Specimens from more than one locality have 

 formed the basis of specific names, e.g., bonapartii of Gray {Mag. 

 Zool. and Bot., ii., 49S, 1838) from Sicily; csgyptiacus of Geoffroy from 

 Egypt ;^ christii of Gray {loc. cit.) and ustus of Heuglin, from Wadi 

 Haifa, north Africa ; and homochrous of Hodgson {Journ. Asiatic Soc, 

 Bengal, XVI., ii., 894, 1847) from the central sub-Himalayas. The 

 status of these forms, if indeed they be distinct from typical auritus, 

 is quite unknown. 



The Long-eared Bat is probably one of the commonest, if not the 

 commonest, and most widely distributed in Britain, but its habits neces- 

 sarily render it less conspicuous than many others. It is certainly to 

 be found everywhere in England, including the Isles of Wight (More ; 

 Bury, Zoologist, 1844, T7T, Wadham), and Scilly (Clark), and almost 

 with equal certainty in every county of Wales (see Forrest, Trans. 

 Caradoc and Severn Valley Field Club, 1900, 242). It is common in 

 all the Channel Islands (Bunting). 



In Scotland there are so many records of its abundant occurrence in 

 the low-lying southern, central, and eastern counties to the Moray 

 Firth, that this part of the country may probably be reckoned with 

 England and Wales. Service, for instance, believes that in Solway it 

 " is much the most abundant [bat] that we have," and in Aberdeen it 

 is stated to be commoner than the Pipistrelle (Sim ; Kinnear). In the 

 highlands it becomes rarer, but details are, as a rule, lacking for areas 

 north of the Caledonian Canal. Its range may, however, include the 

 extreme north, since Eagle Clarke has a note from a correspondent 

 that in west Inverness, north-west of Fort William, it outnumbers 

 all others, and Sir Joseph Fayrer found it in Sutherland (Dobson, 

 Report British Association, Swansea, 1880, 183). W. Evans cites an 

 out-of-the-way locality in rocks at Dumglow, Cleish Hills, Kinross-shire 

 {Proc. Roy. Phys. 5o^. (Edinburgh), xvi., No. 8, 388, 27th November 1905). 

 In the islands it is known from Arran and Mull (Alston), Islay (Alston ; 

 Gilmour, Ann. Scott. Nat. Hist., 1897, 191), and North Uist (Millais), 

 which facts suggest a wide distribution. 



It is included by Kermode {Zoologist, 1893, 62) in the Isle of Man 

 fauna, but is stated to be not so common there as Pipistrellus 

 pipistrellus. 



In Ireland it is probably found commonly in every county, having 

 been known to Alcock and Moffat from all except eleven {Irish 

 Naturalist, 1901, 250-1), and there can be but little doubt that the 



' Specimens seen. 



^ Or agyptius, as frequently cited, but original description not found. 



