Roebuck : On Yoekshire Bats. 



147 



instance, consequently, lies open to suspicion also. But it is remark- 

 able that this species, which is pre-eminently the common bat of the 

 European Continent, should be so entirely absent from Britain. 



The accidental occurrences being weeded out, we have eight species left. 

 Of these, we can hardly expect to meet with those species whose 

 geographical range is restricted to the southern counties of England. 

 This consideration deprives us of the expectation of adding to our 

 fauna the two horseshoe bats (Bhinolophus hipposideros and E. ferrum- 

 equinum), the serotine (Vesperugo serotinus), Vespertilio dasycneme^ 

 Bechstein's bat ( V. Bechsteinii), and the whiskered bat {V. my sf acinus). 

 There then remain two species only to be looked for. The Barbastelle 

 {Synotus barbastell.us) which is very widely distributed in the southern 

 and midland counties of England, reaches as far northwards as 

 Cheshire and JSTorfolk, though it has never been reported for the 

 north of England, nor for Scotland and Ireland. Possibly we may 

 yet have the Barbastelle added to our county list. 



There only remains one species to consider, and the whole practical 

 outcome of this paper may be summed up in a sentence — that Dau- 

 benton's bat, Vespertilio Dauhentonii Leissler, — ought to be found with 

 us, judging from its known recorded distribution. It is very widely 

 diffused over the whole of the British Isles, though perhaps rather 

 local. Possibly it is overlooked from the great peculiarities of its 

 habits and mode of feeding. In Bell's British Quadrupeds, 2nd ed., 

 1874, p. 61, we find its habits thus described : — 



" So peculiar are the vespertinal habits of this species, that, while 

 very abundant, an ordinary observer might be quite unconscious of 

 its existence. It is essentially an aquatic species, if such an expression 

 be admissible, applied to an animal which never enters the water. It 

 haunts that element continually, flying so near its surface as to render 

 it difficult to distinguish between the creature itself and its reflection. 

 The flight, quivering and slow, is performed by very slight but rapid 

 strokes of the wings ; it may, indeed, be said to vibrate, rather than 

 fly, over the surface of the water. It could not well fly in any other 

 manner so near the surface v/ithout often striking it, and this it seldom, 

 or perhaps never, does, although it often pauses to dip its nose into 

 the water, whether to drink or pick up some floating food, we have 

 been unable to ascertain. The Daubenton's Bat is, we suspect, rather 

 an abundant species in the middle parts of England, * * *." 



This species thus appears a very likely one to occur in Yorkshire, 

 especially as we learn from Alston's Catalogue of Scottish Mammalia 

 that it has occurred in various Scottish localities and is pretty widely 



