THE BATS 93 



tends to curve inwards under the body. The bone projects a 

 short distance beyond the membrane, and almost acts as a kind 

 of spring. The tip of the tail is forced against the ground on 

 each side alternately, moving in concert with the hind foot, and 

 having a slightly prehensile character. It is of great use to the 

 body in ascending or descending an inclined surface. Apparently 

 it also assists the pipistrelle to rise into the air from the ground 

 by acting as a spring with the hind feet. The flight of this 

 bat is quick, but unsteady and zigzag, like that of a moth. It 

 does not fly ordinarily very high, as a rule not much more than 

 twenty feet from the ground. 



The food of the pipistrelle consists of all the smaller flying 

 insects and moths. It consumes large numbers of gnats and 

 flies, and is also fond of raw meat. This common bat appears 

 occasionally in broad daylight, drawn out perhaps by hunger. 

 Ordinarily it does not make its appearance in the open till the 

 sun has set, though it is an early bat compared to the serotine 

 or noctule, and may not infrequently be seen still flying about at 

 sunrise on a summer morning. 



The distribution of the common bat over the British Islands 

 is practically universal. It is met with all over Ireland, Scotland, 

 the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, Wales, and England. It is found 

 aU over Europe and Temperate Asia, and in India its place is taken 

 by a form so closely allied as hardly to be specifically different. 

 This Indian form extends as far south as Australia. It is also 

 found in Northern Africa. Its fossil remains apparently date 

 back in England to the close of the Pleistocene period. 



Genus: MYOTIS 

 This genus is clearly marked by the possession in each jaw 

 of three pairs of premolars and the same number of molar teeth, 

 a characteristic which is shared by only two other genera {Thyrop- 

 tera and Myxopoda) in the sub-order. The incisor teeth in the 

 upper jaw (two pairs) diverge from each other. The ears also 

 are narrow ; the tragus, or earlet, is long, narrow, and sometimes 

 recurved outwards. The outer margin of the ear conch does not 



