32 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



Size large, ears thick, bluntly rounded, nearly as wide as 

 long, and when laid forwards extending but little in front of 

 the eyes; their outer margin convex and turned backwards, 

 slightly notched below the base of the earlet, then forming a 

 thick convex lobe in front of the notch, and ending behind the 

 angle of the mouth ; inner margin nearly straight above, and 

 convex inferiorly ; basal lobe somewhat rounded ; earlet, or 

 tragus, short, expanded above, curved inwards, with a broad, 

 rounded tip ; outer margin highly convex, with a small pointed 

 projection at the base, inner margin concave. Head very 

 broad and flat, with the swellings at the sides of the muzzle very 

 prominent, and the projecting nostrils directed outwards and 

 downwards, with a hollow space between them. Thumb short, 

 with a short callosity at the base ; feet thick, with short toes ; 

 origin of wings as above; only the tip of the tail projecting be- 

 yond the margin of the membrane connecting the hind-legs. 

 General colour light yellowish-brown, only slightly paler on the 

 under-parts, and the hairs of the back and sides becoming 

 paler at the base ; in some examples the general colour red- 

 dish-brown. Length of head and body about 3 inches ; of 

 tail, 2 inches. 



Distribution. — The Noctule is spread over the greater part of 

 temperate Europe and Asia, and likewise ranges over a con- 

 siderable portion of Africa. In Britain it is mainly a southern 

 form, being abundant in many of the southern and midland 

 counties of England, and ranging as far west as Cornwall, but 

 becoming gradually more scarce as we proceed northwards, and 

 being quite unknown in Scotland. The most northern locality 

 which Bell was able to ascertain for this species was North- 

 allerton, in Yorkshire, but it has been recorded by the Rev. 

 H. A. Macpherson from Carnforth, on the coast of Lancashire, 

 and it is possible that certain large Bats observed at Bowness- 

 on-Solway during the summer of 1888 may have pertained to 



