The Bats of British Guiana. 95 
that the gutters are so placed as to project well out from 
the eaves — thus carrying off the water as it falls from 
the edge of the roof, without leaving any space under the 
edge in which bats might take refuge. 
Detailed observations on the habits of individual species 
of bats are not, in many cases, easily made. Of those 
species that frequent the houses or trees about the 
town, some information on habits will be given under 
the description of the forms ; but a few notes may be 
given here as to the association of various species in 
the same habitat, and of the relations of the sexes in the 
various colonies. Colonies of the common blunt-faced 
bat, Artibcus planirostris, a widely distributed species 
that may be described as the commonest of the fruit 
eaters about the town, may often be observed under 
the hoods of the windows and under the eaves of the 
gables of churches and other buildings, especially on 
the estates and less frequented districts. Generally 
they consist of groups of from six to fifty individuals, 
in which males and females are associated, usually 
more or less equally matched in number. In another 
very common town bat, Molossus obscurus, the ordinary 
small house bat, the colonies must consist of large num- 
bers of individuals, to judge from the continuous flights 
that will pour into the openings under the eaves or into 
the ceiling of certain specially favoured houses ; but I am 
unable from observation to confirm the alleged dispropor- 
tion of the sexes, or whether the males and females inva- 
riably are separately grouped, as has been stated by some 
observers. In Glossophaga soricina, the common long- 
tongued bat, the colonies observed about deserted or un- 
inhabited houses generally consist but of few individuals, 
