Vertebrate Zoology Section of the Y.X.U. 
21 
The lecturer was able to supplement our knowledge of the life history of 
Leisler’s bat, by giving some particulars of its breeding habits, of which 
hitherto nothing was known. On June 25th of the present year, Wood- 
cutters at Stainboro’ felled an old oak tree, and during the succeeding 
dinner interval about a score bats were seen to escape from a hole, of the 
remainder, four specimens were caught — two adult females, each with 
one young clinging to it. One young one had probably been injured in 
the fall of the tree, as it died the same day, and one of the adults also 
succumbed a few days after. The two adults and one young were put in 
a cage where the young one lived four days quite unattended by either 
female, another proof of these creatures' unusual vitality. .Both young were 
of a purplish flesh colour and naked of fur. They had about twenty 
milk teeth, the three central pairs of the upper jaw and two central pairs 
of the under jaw were developed, the remainder being scarcely visible. 
The developed teeth were used to seize hold of the adult wherever possible 
with a view of eventually taking refuge under the wing, where the young 
are usually carried. On July 4th, the remaining adult female, which was 
in a healthy condition, grew very restless about 2 o’clock, and on examining 
the cage at 4 o’clock, a newly born young one was found, but after a few 
days the mother neglected it completely. Nevertheless it lived uutil 
August 3rd — 30 days, without shewing any development whatever. 
The voracity of bats when meal worms were provided was illustrated 
by statistics of the number and weight consumed at a meal — each in- 
dividual eating fully a quarter of its own weight. 
■Mr. Oxley Grabham delivered a short lecture on the ‘ Scarboro' Herring 
Fishery.’ One side of this important industry — the innumerable barrels, 
the brawny armed Scotch lassies, and the red sailed smacks are a source of 
interest to visitors every summer holiday time. The old idea was the 
Herring came down from the North in shoals, which split at the northern 
extremity of an Islands, one party reaching as far as Lowestoft on the East 
Coast, whilst the other affected the Irish Sea and West Coast. These 
shoals were followed down by the Scotch boats, who, in addition to the 
local fisherman, were reinforced by Penzance boats. 
The lecturer detailed the counting, gutting, salting, packing and dis- 
patch to the Baltic and Germany, where practically all the catch is ex- 
ported. Slides were shewn of the Herring and the Pilchard, which are 
sometimes confused. The Pilchard is thicker and shorter and carries 
larger scales, and if held by the back fin will preserve its balance, whereas 
the Herring will dip toward the fore part. Slides were also shewn of the 
Herring’s enemies in the shapes of Dogfish, Toad Shark and Fox-tailed 
Shark — which also do great damage to the nets while attempting to 
extricate themselves. 
The lecturer referred to the prevalent superstitions of the fishermen, 
who refuse to go out without a certain sheep bone* in their possession. 
A photograph of a Flounder taken in a Salmon Net near York, weighing 
1 J lbs. was shewn. 
Professor Garstang, who had served on the recent Fisheries Commission, 
said their investigations had determined many local races of Herring, by 
the varied number of vertebrae. The shoals, therefore, did not migrate 
from the extreme > orth down to our East Coast, but the several races 
probably came up from deep water in succession. 
Mr. R. Fortune had spent ‘ An afternoon with a pair of Arctic Terns 
and their young,’ and with the help of a good series of the photographs 
taken, gave his observations then made. The birds were studied on the 
Fames, and attention was called to the unrivalled range of the species, 
reaching from the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic Ice barrier on migration. 
* This is the hyoid bone, which is carried by many folks in Yorkshire 
and Lincolnshire for ‘ luck.’ — E d. 
1914 Jau. 1. 
