BATS 59

is known as the anti-tragus. Two of these bats—the
large one, Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum, and the lesser
one, R. hipposiderus—are found in Britain. Another
family, the Mycteride, have large ears, a large tragus,
and a small nose leaf; to this family belongs the false
vampire of India, Megaderma lyra, and the Queens-
land form, MZ. gigas, which it is as difficult to look
upon as a ‘small’ bat as it is to consider Carponycteris
minimus asa ‘large’ one. The genus Wycteris, which
gives its name to the family,
is mainly an African one.
The next family, Vesper-
tiliontde, includes all the
British species except the
two horse-shoes. They all
have a tragus, but no nose-
leaf, and they all have
a longish tail, to the tip
of which the membrane
stretches. The long-ear,
Plecotus aurttus, may be
taken as the representative of its genus. It may be
recognised by its long ears and the grooves on the
muzzle behind the nostrils. The ears are as mobile
as those of a dog, and are not only moved backwards
and forwards, but thrown into graceful folds during
the act of listening, these folds being formed by three
slight gristly rays that run from the base of the ear
to the edge. This bat, which has a wing-spread of
about ten inches, is found as far west as Ireland and
as far east as the Himalaya, and all through Europe
and North Africa, Like the other British species, it

 

HEAD OF LONG-EARED BAT