THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 678.— December, 1897. 



ON THE POSITION op the LESSER HORSE-SHOE 

 BAT, RHINOLPHUS HIPPOSIDEROS, Bechstein, 

 DURING HIBERNATION. 



By R. Newstead, F.E.S., 



Curator of the Grosvenor Museum, Chester. 

 (Plate II.) 



As I do not remember to have seen any figures illustrating 

 the position of this strange little mammal when asleep or hiber- 

 nating, the thought occurred to me that the readers of ' The 

 Zoologist' would be interested in the accompanying photographs, 

 taken from life, which admirably represent Rhinolphus hippo- 

 sideros in its most characteristic form. 



In the celebrated Cefn and Tremeirchion caves this bat is 

 fairly common — more so in the former than the latter. But the 

 little cave-dweller may very probably occur in any suitable 

 habitat throughout the district. My first acquaintance with the 

 species was through Mr. Brockton Tomlin, who brought a speci- 

 men to our Museum for identification. 



On March 4th, 1896, Messrs. Coward and Oldham joined me 

 in an expedition to the caves ; and on April 12th of the present 

 year I paid a second visit to Cefn. The examples met with were 

 easily accessible, and one of them was photographed in situ ; but 

 the strong light from the magnesium ribbon put the little creature 

 in a nervous state of apprehension, and the resulting picture was 



Zool. 4th ser. vol. I., December, 1897. 2 p 



