252 RHINOLOPHID^— RHINOLOPHUS 



features of that of R. ferrum-equinum. Thus, while quite unknown in 

 east Anglia and rare in the Midlands, it is common in many parts of 

 the south of England from Kent westwards, is widely distributed in 

 the west and in Wales, and may be said with certainty to range as 

 far north as Ripon in Yorkshire. The eastern boundary of its 

 English range is thus roughly crescentic, the tips of the crescent 

 resting on Kent and Yorkshire. Furthermore, the bat is found in 

 Ireland, but here again, although stated to be the " Common Bat " of 

 parts of the west, where it occurs from Kerry north to Galway, it has 

 never been detected in the east, nor, one doubtful record excepted, even 

 in the centre. 



Tracing out this crescent, H. A. Macpherson knew of a Hertford 

 specimen, and cites Sevenoaks in Kent as one of its habitats {Zoolo- 

 gist, 1887, 152); while Millais has seen others from Maidstone and 

 Chiselhurst, and, with Ogilvie-Grant, has frequently observed it in 

 Kensington Gardens, London, whence a specimen was identified by 

 Harting; Tomes found it at Godstone, Surrey (Bucknill and Murray); 

 but no records are forthcoming from Sussex ; and Hart knew of only one 

 Hampshire specimen (Trevor Battye and Lascelles) ; while another 

 reported to Kelsall as having been taken at Niton in Wight many years 

 ago {Zoologist, 1887, 90) would appear to be the solitary record for that . 

 island. The former records are additional to the information collected 

 by Kelsall in 1887 {loc. cit), at which time the species had no known 

 habitats in the south-east of England. Its absence from Essex, Suffolk, 

 Norfolk, Cambridge, Lincoln, Bedford, Rutland, and Huntingdon can 

 hardly be due to oversight in the face of the presence in these counties 

 of a long succession of naturalists, including Laver, Rope, Caton Haigh, 

 and Cordeaux. The first-named in particular has, as he positively 

 assures me, in a lifetime devoted to the study of the local fauna, never 

 seen nor even heard of a local specimen, so that Millais's statement 

 that he has " seen specimens from Colchester " would seem to need 

 confirmation. 



In the south-west the species was discovered by Montagu in Wilt- 

 shire in two localities {Trans. Linnean Soc, ix., 1808, 162-171) ; and after- 

 wards (with R. ferrum-equinum) in Kent's Hole, an extensive limestone 

 cavern near Torquay in Devon, and it has since been encountered 

 frequently within the county borders (see Jordan, Zoologist, 1843, 75 ; 

 Borrer, Journ. cit., 1874, 4129; Lilford, Journ. cit., 1887, 63; Hollis, 

 Journ. cit., 1907, no- in). Further records up to 1887 have been 

 summarised by Kelsall {loc. cit.), showing that it occurs, often abund- 

 antly, in Cornwall (see also Qouch, Journ. cit., 1853, 3941, and Millais), 

 sometimes indeed, almost to the exclusion of all others (Clark) ; in 

 Somerset, where the Mendip Caves may be mentioned as a specially 

 favoured haunt (see also 'L&ms, Journ. cit., 1906, 69, and Millais); and in 



