192 MAMMALIA. 



nothincr could be seen at the hole. I drove the l)lade of the axe 

 through the; thin shell a little Ix^low and pried off a lar^-e piece. 

 The result was fairly startliuo-, for in a twinklino- the; o[)enini;- was 

 fdled with swarms of i^ats which, lor the space of several minutes, 

 poured forth uninterruptedK' in a solid. dusk\- stream. The majority 

 took llij^ht at once, making' oft over the Lake or in the direction 

 of the nearest wooded shore, hut dozens, in their haste, fell into 

 the water or soug'ht refu^'e in the boat where they scrambled about 

 under the seats or attempted to climb my le^-s. 



" After the rush was o\cm' I was astonishcul to hnd that the tree 

 had been by no means cMnptied. Indecnl. the s(|uc?akinL;- sounds 

 within continued almost unabated. 1 lU'esti^atino- further 1 dis- 

 covered that although the; trunk was hollow for nearl\- its entire 

 leni^th, there; was a central core which touchetl the walls in places, 

 thus dixidino- the interior into separate spaces or chanibers con- 

 nected with one another b\' numerous passages. The side that I 

 had opened had been promptl\- \'acatc;d. but man\- of the occupants 

 had probabl}- crawled around Into the; other chamber instead of 

 following- their more impulsi\-e com|)anions. At least when this, 

 their last refuge, was laid bare b)' another application of the axe, 

 the torrent that ruslu:d forth rendered the first exodus insignificant 

 b\- comparison. In fact, as m\ guide r(;marked at the time, it 

 seemed as if all the l^ats of New b^nolaiul had con^rreofated in that 

 one tree. Of their total num])ers I should not care to attempt any 

 definite estimate, but there; were certainh' hundreels and probably 

 the)usands. All were adults, and all apparently e)f the same specie;s, 

 a small dark-colored one which, as you suggest, was pre)l)abl)' 

 Vcspcj'HQO iiflc/kuioaus although as I preserveel no specimens (a 

 piece of negligence that 1 now deeph' regret) I cannot be positive 

 on this point. 



" None of the guides e)r lumbermen te) whe)m I te)lel this experi- 

 ence had ever met with a similar colon)-, althe)ugh it is not unusual 

 for them to find single Bats, or small families, hibernating" in the 



