NEW ZEALAND BAT. (Half natural size. From the Proceedings of the Zoological Society.)
Two species of Bats have been ascertained to inhabit New Zealand, and both present characters which isolate them systematically, just as much as their distant insular habitation does absolutely. The present species was discovered by J. R. Forster, the naturalist who accompanied Captain Cook, and described by him under the name of Vespertilio tuberculatus. It has short rounded ears; there are cutaneous lobes at the angles of the mouth, and three true molars on each side in both jaws. The upper incisors are in pairs, the inner ones much larger than the outer, and are separated from the canines; the pre-molars are small and pointed, and the molars of the ordinary form in the allied genera. The tragus is short, rather broad, and rounded at the tip. The wing-membranes spring from the base of the toes; the interfemoral membrane is large, and contains the long tail, of which the tip only projects; and the heel-spurs are long, extending one-third of the distance between the heel and the tip of the tail.
In its form and general proportions this Bat resembles the common British Pipistrelle, as also in the characters of the skull. In its dentition it has a still closer affinity to an Australian species, Gould’s Bat (Scotophilus Gouldii). The fur is of a blackish-brown colour on the head and back, becoming chestnut-brown on the rump; the lower surface is of a similar colour, but browner, and becomes reddish-brown towards the tail. The hairs are of one colour throughout their length. The length of the head and body is rather more than two inches, and that of the tail about an inch and a half. This Bat inhabits the middle island of New Zealand. Nothing appears to be known of its habits.
THE MOUSE-COLOURED BAT.[198]
HEAD OF
MOUSE-COLOURED BAT.
The genus Vespertilio, as now restricted, comprehends a very considerable number of species distributed in nearly all parts of the world. It differs from Vesperugo in having the outer margin of the ear terminated opposite the level of the tragus, and not produced towards the angle of the mouth, and is further characterised by the nostrils being simple and crescent-shaped, and scarcely projecting from the muzzle. Eight species inhabit Europe, and five of these are found in Britain.
The Common Bat of the continent of Europe, the Mouse-coloured Bat of Prof. Bell (Vespertilio murinus), is a large species more than three inches and a half in length. Its fur is of a pale reddish-brown colour above and greyish-white beneath, but with the bases of all the hairs black; the head is long, the ears oval, narrowed towards the apex, as long as the head, and the tragus is nearly half as long as the ear, narrow, pointed, with its inner margin quite straight. The membranes are of a yellowish-brown colour. Vespertilio murinus is met with in the north-western Himalayas, and extends thence through Syria into Northern Africa. It is common in Central and Southern Europe, but in England is one of the rarest Bats; in fact the only known British-caught specimen was taken (most conveniently) in the gardens of the old British Museum. Its claim to be considered indigenous rests, therefore, upon a very insecure foundation. In many parts of Europe, however, this species is exceedingly abundant, and lives by hundreds together, chiefly in church-towers and other similar localities, issuing forth in the evening to prey upon the insects which fly at that time. Moths are said to be its favourite victims, and the harder parts of these insects, with portions of the wings, are found unaltered in the Bat’s excrement. Notwithstanding their social habits, these Bats are exceedingly quarrelsome; they fight vigorously with their sharp teeth and the claws of their thumbs, often tearing each other severely, and even breaking the slender bones in the wings of their adversaries.