HABITS OF THE GREATER HORSESHOE BAT. 291 



me, and kept alive for ten days. It lived in a lumber-room, 

 where it was allowed to fly pretty freely. I observed its parti- 

 ality for certain spots, to one or another of which it regularly 

 returned after being disturbed. Mr. Coward said that with his 

 Bats he noticed the same to some extent, but after a while they 

 became less fastidious, and would hang up anywhere. As is well 

 known, it always reverses, i. e. turns a sort of somersault before 

 hanging up by its hind limbs. This aerial manoeuvre is a very 

 clever feat. It never pitches head upwards. It used to crawl 

 about the walls a good deal, but always head downwards. When 

 thus climbing it made use of its wing-claws. 



One most noticeable point was the incessant nervous twitching 

 of the ears. It was more than a twitching — it was a series of 

 distinct though rapid movements of the ears, which gave the 

 little animal a very peculiar appearance. 



When hanging the interfemoral membrane is bent back over 

 the back, and when flying it is stretched, of course, between the 

 hind limbs, but with the tip turned up somewhat. This is 

 difficult to see, but I chalked the tip of the membrane and 

 the ankles of the legs, and, by judging the relative positions of 

 the chalk-marks when it was on the wing, I was able to ob- 

 serve that the tip was slightly turned up, as was indeed to be 

 expected. 



When placed on the ground it rises with the greatest ease, 

 and several times when flying it pitched on the ground with the 

 wings sprawled out at full length, and the belly resting on the 

 ground. Mr. Coward informed me that this was a pronounced 

 habit with this species. When taking flight again from this 

 position, I believe it uses its hind limbs as a "push off." I 

 only noticed an attempt to walk on two occasions. It once gave 

 me a sharp nip with the teeth, and, although I found it rather 

 spiritless, it never got really tame. 



It looks a curious animal when hanging up asleep, with its 

 body enveloped in its wings, and its remarkable face ensconced 

 between the two wing-joints, and its long thin legs stretched out 

 straight, and kept close to each other. As has been pointed out 

 before, it bears a resemblance, when in this position, to a 

 pupa of the Lepidoptera. When sleeping the ears are gener- 

 ally tucked in under the cavity formed by the antebrachial. 



