BRITISH MAMMALS 
In the Greater Horse-shoe Bat the expanse of wings varies in different 
individuals, and the females, as in many other species, are larger than the males. 
The specimen figured in the Plate obtained in the flesh from Wells, 
Somersetshire, towards the end of September 19 19, measured 125 inches 
from tip to tip of wings, but examples occur of larger dimensions, even 
up to 355 millimetres (about 14 inches), according to the late Major 
Barrett-Hamilton. 
The fur, usually brighter in the females, is a warm tawny grey in colour, 
and paler on the under parts of the animal. A young one received in 
September, and represented in the lower part of the Plate, was a soft neutral 
grey in colour. 
The ears are sharply pointed with an outward bend at the tips, while 
a prolongation of their outer margin crosses in front of the auditory opening 
in a horizontal direction and forms a conspicuous lobe called the antitragus. 
The tragus, which is such a prominent feature in the ears of the 
Vespertilionidae or typical Bats, is absent in the Rhinolophidae or Horse- 
shoe Bats. The remarkable nasal appendage is formed like a horse- shoe 
in the lower section, from about the centre of this, between the nostrils 
arises a horn-like protuberance standing out from the face, while above, the 
frontal leaf narrows to a point over the forehead. The complicated form 
of this curious ornament may perhaps be best understood by referring to 
the sketch forming the tailpiece. Nervous and highly sensitive, it is well 
supplied with glands, and although its true frinction is apparently not yet 
fully understood, it is probably a means of communicating to the Bat an 
impression of its surroundings, independently of the eyesight. The small 
and deeply set eyes are more conspicuous than in the Lesser Horse-shoe Bat. 
The wings are very broad and arise from the tibia just above the ankle, 
their wide expanse of membrane no doubt accounting for the ease and 
buoyancy of flight in this species. 
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