270 
BATS. 
considerable distance; their tragus being also large. The general colour, like that 
of all British bats, is sombre, being brownish-grey above and paler on the under¬ 
parts. This bat has a very wide geographical distribution, being found over the 
greater part of Europe, in Northern Africa, and probably also in most of the 
temperate regions of Asia; so that its known range extends from Ireland in the 
west to the Darjiling Himalaya in the east. 
In the great development of its ears, as well as in the presence of groovings on 
the nose (which in other forms of the group develop into incipient nose-leaves), 
the long-eared bat and its allies occupy the highest, or most specialised position 
among the typical bats. This large size of the ears is in all probability connected 
with the nocturnal habits of this species; and it would appear that these organs to 
a large extent serve the same purposes as the large nose-leaves of the horseshoe- 
bats. That the long-eared bat is mainly nocturnal in its habits is clearly stated 
in the second edition of Bell’s British Quadrupeds, where it is mentioned that 
although this species may often be seen hawking after flies with the short-eared 
pipistrelle in the evening, yet that it is late in coming forth from its diurnal 
resting-place, and that its flight is continued throughout the night. The presence 
of this bat may be recognised by its cry, which, when once known, can always be 
distinguished from that of all other species; and the author of the work just 
cited tells us how this cry may be heard at all hours of even the darkest night, 
whether the listener be in the open fields, in the neighbourhood of woods, or near 
towns. The cry itself is described as being acute and shrill, although not loud; 
but practice only can enable observers to distinguish it from that of other bats. 
In order to protect them from injury during the time that their owner is at 
rest, the long and delicate ears of this bat are at such times generally carefully 
folded away beneath the wings; and since the upright tragus is then left standing 
alone, the creature looks as if it had only short and slender ears. The ears both of 
this bat and of its North American ally are relatively longer than in any other 
animal; and it is, indeed, probably solely due to the adventitious width communi¬ 
cated to the body by the wings that the ears do not appear monstrous and out of 
all proportion. The long-eared bat is a comparatively small animal, the length of 
the head and body being just short of 2 inches; while the ear measures about 
li inches, and the spread of the expanded wings reaches 10 inches. 
The favourite hiding-places of these bats in inhabited districts are church 
towers, or within the roofs of open buildings or outhouses; and in such places they 
may be found in the daytime during the summer months hanging in large clusters, 
and in the winter carefully ensconced in such crannies and nooks as afford the 
best protection. In a rock-cut tomb in the Libyan desert visited many years ago 
by the late Professor Leith Adams, the long-eared bats, which were at that time 
regarded as distinct from the present species, were met with in swarms; “ so 
plentiful were they,” writes Professor Adams, “ that during my descent into the 
crypt I was covered with them, while hundreds fluttered about like bees around a 
hive.” In North America and Vancouver Island, the long-eared bat is represented 
by an allied species, the American long-eared bat (P. macrotis), readily distinguished 
by some peculiar gland-like swellings in the region of the nose. Its habits appear 
to be very similar to those of the European species. 
