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Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



to the cave, I found a cluster of little brown bats, which hung 

 like a swarm of bees from a hollow space in the ceiling, just 

 above the level of my head as I stood on the floor. The cir- 

 cular space covered by them was about 18 inches in diameter, 

 and from this were suspended, head downard, nearly 150 bats 

 in a compact, conical mass, several layers deep. How the 

 underlying ones supported the remainder from their appar- 

 ently insecure attachment to the limestone I could not under- 

 stand any better than the fact that they were not smothered 

 by the embraces of their uncanny companions. 



An exploration of the cave at night failed to show a marked 

 decrease in the numbers of the bats remaining there, although 

 several species were flying abroad at that time, and when we 

 remember that the temperature of the cave remains almost sta- 

 tionary throughout the year, it is not improbable that many of 

 these bats continue torpid for indefinite periods, which have 

 no direct connection with seasonal changes, but are largely 

 dependent on the irregular recurrence of hunger. In this re- 

 spect cave-dwelling bats must differ greatly from those whose 

 habitat is arboreal, and which are therefore subjected to con- 

 tinual variations of temperature and the consequent activity 

 or repose induced thereby. 



Description. This small bat may be known from other of 

 our eastern species by small size, coupled with the dark brown 

 fur and uniformly blackish wings. The tragus is long, 

 pointed and directed backward. The wing membrane ex- 

 tends to the base of the toes. There are two small unicuspid, 

 upper incisors of equal size, separated by a slight diastema 

 from the canine. Just behind the canine is a small premolar, 

 closely followed by a smaller one, and this by the large third 

 premolar and the three molars. Ten specimens from the 

 cave have been critically examined, and are in the Philadel- 

 phia Academy's collection. Three of these average as fol- 

 lows : Expanse of wings, 235 mm.; length of body and tail, 

 83 ; tail vertebrse, 36 ; hind foot, 8 ; height of ear from crown, 1 1 . 



Georgia Bat. Vesperugo carolinensis Geoff. St. Hil. 



Vespertilio carolinensis. Is. Geoff St. Hilaire. Ann. du Mus., 

 1806, p. 193. 



Vespertilio georgianns. Fr. Cuv., Ann. du Mus., 1832, p. 16. 



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