The Zoologist/4th series, vol 2 (1898)/Issue 690/Occurence of Natterer's Bat in North Wales
Verpertilio nattereri, Desm.
THE ZOOLOGIST
No. 690.—December, 1898.
OCCURRENCE OF NATTERER'S BAT IN
NORTH WALES.
By J. Backhouse, F.L.S. (Plate IV.)
During July of the present year the writer received a box containing thirty-six living specimens of Natterer's Bat (Vespertilio nattereri) from North Wales. These were all captured in an old ruin not far from the sea, and, along with a dozen or so more, were taken from a hole in the masonry formerly occupied by Jackdaws. The collection consisted of both old and young, and nearly all have been most carefully preserved.
The occurrence of this comparatively rare British Bat in such large numbers is most interesting, and especially so because the young are of almost all ages—some so very juvenile as to be hardly capable of spreading their membranes.
So little known are the young of this species that a few words by way of description, along with a photographic reproduction of a specimen taken after preservation, may not be out of place.
During life the young Natterer's Bat is darker above than the adult, and noticeably paler beneath—in fact, nearly pure white. The specifically characteristic long spur and hairy margin to the distal portion of the interfemoral membrane is equally observable in the young. Another recognizable point in both old and young of V. nattereri appears to be the presence of hairs upon the feet, a point overlooked by Bell (1874), though pointed out by Lord Clermont in 1859. Some of the young in the "bunch" above referred to were more downy than hairy above, especially about the face.
Natterer's Bat, which is of somewhat local occurrence in our own country, is found distributed through Europe as far as its easternmost confines, but does not appear to range beyond Southern Sweden in the north, or beyond the Alps in the south.
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