2i8 VESPERTILIONID^— BARBASTELLA 



made any attempt to write its natural history difficult until the 

 Rev. D. E. Owen and Mr G. E. Bullen sent Mr H. E. Forrest 

 an account of a colony in the porch of Llanelwedd Church, 

 Radnorshire. All that could be said for certain was that, of 

 the few recorded specimens which had been captured, the 

 majority were discovered either in houses, or resting on or 

 under the bark of trees.^ Others owed their detection to their 

 appearance on the wing in broad daylight,^ a proclivity which 

 Mr Eardley Hall, who, according to Mr J. G. Millais, has had 

 good opportunities for observing this species, believes to be the 

 rule and not the exception. 



The first notice of its natural history came from the pen of 

 Bell, who received from Dr Waring a specimen taken during 

 a very hard frost in the latter end of December, in a large 

 chalk -cavern excavated at the bottom of a shaft seventy 

 feet deep, at Chiselhurst, in Kent. "In this cavern," wrote 

 Bell, "during very severe frosts, several species of Bats are 

 found to retreat ; and on this occasion, with the Barbastelle was 

 received a specimen of the " Whiskered, three of Natterer's, 

 and several of the Long-eared Bat. " These little prisoners, 

 when brought into a warm room, soon began to exhibit signs 

 of vivacity ; and the Barbastelle, with the others, fed readily on 

 small bits of meat, and drank water. He was a timid animal, 

 and did not evince the slightest disposition to become familiar ; 

 he would take his food, however, with his companions, and 

 was accustomed to rest with them in a cluster, at the top of 

 the box in which they were placed. The Barbastelle certainly 

 became torpid more readily than any of the others, and more 

 completely so ; but when awake, evinced extreme restlessness, 

 and was incessantly biting with great violence at the wires of 

 his box. When suffered to fly about the room, he flew very 

 low, and less actively than the others under similar circum- 

 stances ; and he was fond of lying before the fire on the 

 hearth rug, where he appeared quite to luxuriate in the warmth. 

 Whilst the Long-eared Bats evinced much attachment to each 

 other, and became very familiar with me, the Barbastelle 



' See A. Newton, Zoologist, 1857, 5421 ; Lord Lilford, ibid., 1894, 187. 

 2 See H. P. Blackmore, ibid., 1869, 1558 ; C. W. Brazenor, ibid., 1887, 152 ; A. H. 

 Cocks, Jenyns, etc. 



