26o RHINOLOPHID^— RHINOLOPHUS 



have supplied me with independent information that they 

 have found the bats inhabiting caves opening on to bare 

 hillsides. 



At Cefn, on 1 8th November, with a cave temperature of 46° 

 Fahrenheit, Mr Coward^ found the bats so wakeful that two 

 were on the wing, and these were joined by three others on his 

 disturbing them. The excrement on the ground beneath them 

 seemed to indicate that they had fed after retiring to the 

 cave, especially as the remains of the cave-haunting spider^ 

 showed that this species had formed part of their diet. Other 

 observations to the same effect have been made by Messrs 

 Newstead and Oldham, who have attempted to ascertain 

 the exact duration of the winter retirement. On this point 

 Kinahan in Clare and Mr Coward in Denbighshire found 

 the caves untenanted in July and August, but the bats 

 were at home in the Irish caves on ist April, and in the 

 Welsh ones on the 4th of the same month.^ As regards the 

 autumn, Mr Oldham,* who has had specimens taken on 24th 

 September from a cave in Carnarvonshire, suggests that this 

 haunt may have been occupied throughout the summer months. 

 In any case it is clear that the bats frequent the caves where 

 they hibernate at least from some time in November to some 

 time in April, and that during that time they frequently shift 

 their positions within the caves, but whether or to what extent 

 they ever leave them is uncertain. " Even during their period 

 of activity," writes Mr Oldham, "from spring to autumn the 

 diurnal sleep of bats is profound. The heart beats feebly, 

 respiration is diminished, and the temperature falls. The 

 creature, if taken in hand, feels cold and lifeless, and some 

 time elapses before, with sneezes and spasmodic twitchings of 

 the limbs, it emerges from its lethargy, an epitome of restless 

 activity and pulsating life. The phenomena of normal sleep 

 are intensified during hibernation ; but, even if other proof 

 were lacking that the winter sleep is broken, it is highly im- 

 probable that the vital functions would be so far in suspense 

 that food taken immediately prior to the Bat's retirement in 

 autumn would remain unassimilated in the stomach, or as 



' See article on Greater Horseshoe, supra. ^ Meta menardi. 



3 In Kent's Hole, Devonshire, on the 8th (Oldham). * Zoologist, 1903, 430. 



