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NATUEAL HISTOEY OF SELBORNE. 
LETTEE XXXVI. 
TO THE SAME. 
Sept im. 
^ Dear Sir, — The summer through I have seen but two of that large 
' species of bat which I call vespertilio altivolans, from its manner 
of feeding high in the air ; I procured one of them, and found it to be 
a male ; and made no doubt, as they accompanied together, that the 
other was a female ; but, happening in an evening or two to procure 
* the other likewise, I was somewhat disappointed, when it appeared to 
be also of the same sex. This circumstance, and the great scarcity of 
this sort, at least in these parts, occasions some suspicions in my mind 
whether it is really a species, or whether it may not be the male part of 
the more known species, one of which may supply many females ; as is 
known to be the case in sheep and some other quadrupeds.. But this 
doubt can only be cleared by a farther examination, and some attention 
to the sex, of more specimens ; all that I know at present is, that my 
two were amply furnished with the parts of generation, much resembling 
those of a boar.^ 
In the extent of their wings they measured fourteen inches and an 
half ; and four inches and an half from the nose to the tip of the tail ; 
their heads were large, their nostrils bilobated, their shoulders broad 
and muscular ; and their whole bodies fleshy and plump. Nothing could 
be more sleek and soft than their fur, which was of a bright chesnut 
colour ; their maws were full of food, but so macerated that the quality 
could not be distinguished ; their livers, kidneys, and hearts, were large, 
and their bowels covered with fat. They weighed each, when entire, 
full one ounce and one drachm. Within the ear there was somewhat 
of a peculiar structure that I did not understand perfectly ! but refer it - 
to the observation of the curious anatomist. These creatures sent forth 
a very rancid and offensive smell. 
LETTEE XXXVII, 
TO THE SAME. 
Selboene, 1771. 
Dear Sir, — On the twelfth of July I had a fair opportunity of 
contemplating the motions of the caprimulgus, or fern-owl, as it was 
playing round a large oak that swarmed with scaraboei solstitiales, or 
fern-chafers. The powers of its wing were wonderful, exceeding, if 
* See Letters XXII. XXVI. The British fauna is indebted to White for the 
first notice of this species ; it is locally distributed, and although not common 
generally is found in numbers together, so many as 185 having been taken in one 
night from the eaves of Queen's College, Cambridge. It was first described by 
Daubenton, under the name of La noctule, which name Latinised was after- 
wards continued, and is prior to White's name of altivolans, which we regret 
has not been retained, as it is so characteristic of the habits of the species. 
