which seemed those of rats, and immediately another just above them, evidently crawling downwards. I pointed them out to my negro lad, who saw two or three more, and presently, as it became more clear of smoke, the whole sides of the cavity appeared full of curious round faces. I now fired, no longer at random, and had the pleasure of bringing down this beautiful bat, which fell dead. The smoke of this discharge made the others more anxious to come down to the fresh air, and we could see them descending fast, head downwards. As the shot lacerated the membranes considerably, I bethought myself of another plan; cutting a long switch, with a few twigs at its extremity, I stood at the bottom and whipped one down; he came sprawling with expanded wings on the ground, apparently with but little notion of flight, although unwounded. On being taken up by the wings he displayed uncommon fierceness, biting savagely and powerfully anything within his reach. Three or four more I obtained in the same manner and brought them home. When thrown up into the air in a room, they would not fly, but merely opened the volar membranes to break their fall, as with a parachute. Two, which I kept alive, hung themselves up by the hind-feet from the side of a cage into which I put them, and would not move, except to shift an inch or two; nor did the approach and arrival of night excite them to activity. One, however, which had contrived to secrete himself in the room, when, having taken both out of the cage, I turned my back for a moment, and which I had vainly searched for, I found at night, by going into the room with a candle: hearing a scrambling, I looked up to the top of the wall, where was my lost bat, endeavouring to suspend himself. On being touched he flew off, but soon alighted, and so repeatedly; sometimes, when he failed of taking a hold of the wall, he came to the floor, whence he readily rose, though very obliquely. I was struck with his expanse of wing when performing his noiseless flight around the room, and with his resemblance to a bird, aided by the enormous interfemoral membrane, which, being expanded by the hind-legs and depressed, looked like the broad tail of a flying-bird, and appeared to guide the motion in like manner. While taking some drawings of one, as it hung from the immense hind-feet, I was amused to see how it would thrust its nose into every part of the volar membranes, apparently searching for parasites (of which several were briskly crawling among the hair); and now and then it brought down one hind-foot, and scratched itself with exactly the motion of a monkey: and once I observed, after scratching its breast, it delivered something into its mouth. The flexibility of the ankle-joint was extreme, so that the foot could reach with ease any part of the body.

"I presented to one a large cockroach, which he seized greedily and munched up, moving the jaws only vertically. The eating was attended with a loud and very harsh cranching of the teeth-not produced by crushing the horny parts of the insect, for it was equally perceptible when munching a bit of soft flesh. The jaws moved rapidly, but yet the mastication was a long operation, for it appeared to me to be performed almost wholly by the canines. As the insect was progressively masticated, portions were allowed to fall into the cheek-pouches (the one being pretty well filled before the other was used), which when full hung down on each side of the lower jaw, to the depth of three or four lines, like distended bags, displaying a warted surface. When the whole of one cockroach had been masticated and deposited in the pouches, it would take another, which was gradually disposed of in the same receptacles; then, after a few moments' intermission, by a contortion of the jaw, aided by the motion of the muscles of the pouch, a portion was returned to the mouth, and again masticated.

This was repeated till all was swallowed, and the pouches appeared empty and contracted up out of sight. The whole process was much like rumination. Small portions of the muscle of a bird, which were presented to one, he chewed up and deposited in the pouches; but after being regurgitated, and a second time masticated, they were expelled instead of being swallowed. The process of eating seemed an awkward one; it was a rapid succession of choppings with the long canines, through which the tongue was thrust about so nimbly that it appeared a wonder it was not impaled perpetually.

"In order to rest, like other bats they crawled upwards and backwards by means of the hind-feet, seeking the greatest elevation they could attain which afforded a hold for the claws. They were social, though both were males; usually hanging side by side, or sometimes with the leg of one crossing the leg of the other, or even one upon the other. Sometimes they brought their faces together, and licked each other's open mouths in a singular manner; and this appeared grateful to them. I did not hear either of them click or squeak.

"Pressed by numerous engagements, I was prevented from again visiting the tree until about ten days after. I then went thither in the afternoon, wishing to see the bats emerge for the night; but though I waited till after sunset, not one appeared. The next morning I smoked the cavity again, using the fumes of burning nitre and sulphur, but entirely without success. I hence inferred that they had deserted the tree as a dwelling on the first molestation. After some months, however, I again found it tenanted by the same species, if not the same individuals, and succeeded in obtaining another specimen, whose manners in captivity were identical with those recorded above.

"I have never seen the species abroad (so as to identify it), but my intelligent negro lad, Sam, observed two about noon on the 16th of April, the sun shining vertically. It was at a provision-ground at Belmont, where they were clinging to the limb of a young Avoçada pear (Persea). A Banana-bird (Icterus leucopteryx) was flying towards them, apparently with the intention of pecking them, on whose approach they flew away in different directions. The lad did not perceive them until the very moment of separation and flight, but he noticed that they were in actual contact, though he could not tell their position. No hole or hollow tree was near. Could they have been in copulâ ?

"I conjecture that it is the present species to which reference is made in the following paragraph, which appeared in the Salisbury Journal' of February 6th, 1847 :'Mr. Thomas Dickon, an eminent farmer in Lincolnshire, had been induced to go to Jamaica, as manager of some extensive estates there, with the intention of introducing the best systems of farming where they had been hitherto unknown. Accounts have been received that there is already every probability of a considerable increase of sugar being produced, by applying a new guano as tillage. It is the dung of large bats. The bats are said to amount to myriads; and Mr. D. having observed many of these singular animals entering the crevices of one of the numerous rocks, caused an opening to be made and the place explored. The cave was found to be 250 feet long, 20 feet broad, and from 20 to 30 feet high. The interior contained thousands of these animals, and appeared to have been their dwelling for ages. At the bottom of the cave, bats' dung, at least four feet in thickness, and amounting to about 600 tons in weight, was discovered, and found to be equal to the best Ichaboe guano.'

"I sent a copy of the above notice to my esteemed friend, Richard Hill, Esq., of

Spanish Town, who thus replied: "I know Mr. Dickon, to whom your newspaper paragraph relates. He details his experience in the parish of Westmoreland [the same part of Jamaica as that in which my own observations were made-P. H. G.]; I will however endeavour to ascertain the precise locality in which he had discovered his extraordinary colony of bats. The Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of Jamaica, of which I am a member, had had its attention called to the manure to be obtained from fæcal deposits in caves frequented by bats, and they had analyzed the material, but found it so largely charged with the comminuted wing-cases of insects, and so little acted upon by decomposition, that the azotized ingredients combined but slowly as a fertilizer. Several similar accounts were given to us of cave-deposits, to that furnished by Mr. Dickon. His discovery, however, being made in an unopened cavern, into which the bats had penetrated through crevices in the rock, has special recommendations to notice.

"My attention was some time ago drawn to a similar harbouring-place of our Cheiroptera. One evening, as I was crossing the marshes between Spanish Town and Kingston, by the high-road, I was surprised at sundown at the sudden rushing out of a stream of bats from the face of a cliffy hill that rises precipitously from the swamp. They continued pouring out for some quarter of an hour or twenty minutes; they stretched like a string for some hundred yards, in consequence of the one-by-one file in which they came forth from the crevice, and then dispersed themselves up and down and all about, covering the whole expanse of the contiguous marsh. The long highway perspective across the swamp; the level bed of rushes bending in wavelets to the evening wind; the distant mountains with beetling summits and broken declivities, lighted in angular patches by the setting sun, exhibited a wide, dilated and diversified scene, in which no object rose to interrupt the line made by the flitting swarms as they streamed out from the face of the cliff, and spread their myriad numbers over the plain. I have myself noticed the great depth of the rejectamenta of bats in these caverned recesses, but a great deal of it consisted of undecayed down, as well as fæcal mutings, and undevoured fragments of insects.'

"In a subsequent communication my friend favoured me with a sample of the excremental deposits from a bat-cavern on Swansea estate, in the Vale of Luidas; and I forward it, with this paper, to the Zoological Society.

"I close this article with a few particulars of description, some of which are better observed on the living animal than on specimens dried or in spirit. A male measured as follows:- Muzzle to insertion of tail, 4 inches; expanse of volar membranes, 24; ear, from posterior base of tragus to tip, 1; ditto, from anterior base to tip, 1 ; tragus, longest side, ; shortest,; nose to front angle of eye, ; nose to front of tragus, 18. Colour varying; upper parts yellow-brown, more or less bright; a welldefined narrow line of pale fulvous runs medially down the back from the head to the tail; under parts pale fawn, bright fulvous or orange; face purplish; the muzzle and chin are much corrugated; face warty; the ears fall into elegant curves. The volar membranes are delicately thin, transparent and glossy; studded with minute, white, papillary glands, which for the most part follow the course of the blood-vessels, but are largest and most numerous in the vicinity of the trunk. The membranes being attached along each side of the spine, with an interval in the middle of the back of but ths of an inch, the body is, to a great extent, free. The wing, when at rest, has but a single fold, the ultimate joint of the second and third fingers being brought back upon the penultimate. The reproductive organs are large and prominent. At the

base of the penis are two follicles, secreting a dark brown substance, dry and lumpy, but friable between the fingers, most insufferably musky, the odour from which is strongly diffused by the animal during life.

"From the width of the gape, the length of the teeth, and the power of the jaws in this species, together with the ferocious eagerness with which my captive specimens snatched at large cockroaches, I conjecture that its insect-prey is large; probably nocturnal beetles and the larger moths and sphinges."-P. H. Gosse, in ‘Proceedings of Zoological Society,' Nos. 176 and 177.

Sagacity of a Cat.-We have a young cat in our house we call Toby, who, among other frolicsome tricks, exercises his sagacity by opening the doors. It was often a matter of surprise that the door which opens into the garden should frequently be found open the cause was soon discovered, for Toby was seen one day swinging into the passage suspended to the handle of the latch. It is really curious to observe the means used by the kitten to effect his purpose: he springs up to the latch, puts one paw through the handle, by which means he suspends his body against the door; with the other paw he pats the latch until the door opens. Toby seems fond of this sport, which he repeats many times in the course of a day. There is another door which he readily opens; we suppose by similar means. I should not have noted down the gambols of a kitten, had I not an impression on my mind that this species is capable of exhibiting a far greater degree of sagacity than is usually attributed to them, and which is more fully developed when the animal is kindly treated.—W. Bentley ; 3, Critchell Place, December, 1847.

Habits of the Field-Mouse.-The notice (Zool. 1901) of the young otter holding on by the fur at the root of the parent's tail, induces me to state that, at the end of last October, I witnessed something similar take place with the field-mouse and her young. Happening to be standing in a field from which potatoes were being raised, I observed, in and around a furrow which the plough had just made, a field-mouse and seven or eight young, fully two-thirds grown. Four or five of them were running in different directions, at a pretty rapid rate; but three others were firmly attached to the hinder part of the mother. She seemed to drag them away with considerable difficulty, judging from the comparatively slow progress she made. After having drawn them eight or ten yards, and being pursued, she parted company with them, turned round, sat up upon her hind legs like a squirrel, rubbed her face, and then scampered off at full speed.-G. Gordon; Birnie, December, 1847.

Rats feeding on Eels." In cutting through an embankment in a field adjoining the river Lune, the other day, for the formation of one of the culverts rendered necessary by the passing of the North-Western Railway in that direction, the labourers met with between 15 lbs. and 20 lbs. of eels, some quite fresh, and others in the last stage of putrefaction. They varied from a quarter to half a pound in weight, and consisted of the common silver-bellied or river eel, and Lilliputian specimens of the conger or sea eel. The latter, of course, had come up with the tide. As teeth-marks were visible on the heads of most of them, it was conjectured they had been destroyed in that way, and stored for winter provision, by some animal whose retreat was not far distant. This proved to be the case. On digging a little further out bounced a matronly rat, with seven half-grown young ones at her heels. The workmen gave chase, and ultimately succeeded in killing both mother and progeny, with a solitary exception, the trunk of a neighbouring tree affording an asylum to one of the family. The embankment is about 100 yards from the water's edge, so that it must have required consider

able time and labour on the part of the old rat to have dragged the eels thither."Lancaster Guardian.

Occurrence of the Oared Shrew at Birkenhead.—Having captured some little time since a species of Sorex which was new to me, I find, on an accurate comparison, that it agrees exactly with the description of the oared shrew (Sorex remifer) described in Bell's excellent work on British Quadrupeds; and thinking it may be interesting to some of the readers of your instructive periodical to hear of a new locality, far from any other yet mentioned, showing the more general distribution of the animal, I take the liberty of sending you this short notice. It was captured by me apparently hunting for food, amongst dead leaves, at some little distance from the water, in a plantation through which there is a running ditch in connexion with a small pond, and is now in my possession, carefully preserved.-Wm. Webster, jun.; Upton, Birkenhead, December 24, 1847.

Moles destructive to Wireworms.-The Essex Herald' publishes a letter from the Rev. G. Wilkins to a farmer, who wrote to him, inquiring how the wireworm had been exterminated on the reverend gentleman's land :-" Some ten years since, when I came to my living, and commenced cultivating the little land I hold, it was, I may say, full of wireworms. Nothing could have been worse, for my crops were, in some places, ruined by them entirely. What, then, did I do? I adopted a plan which I recommended and published in periodicals many years since, namely, encouraging moles and partridges on my lands. Instead of permitting a mole to be caught, I bought all I could, and turned them down alive; and soon my fields, one after another, were full of mole-hills, to the amusement of all my neighbours, who, at first, set me down for half a lunatic; but now several adopt my plan, and are strenuous advocates of it. My fields became exactly like a honeycomb; and this continued even among my standing and growing and ripening crops; not a mole was molested, but I still bought more. This summer I had fourteen brought, which I turned down, but they were not wanted; I have nothing for them to eat-all that moles live upon is destroyed-and so, poor things, they must starve or emigrate to some distant lands, and thus get bowstringed by savage men, whom they aim to serve. Adopt my plan, and it will be sure to answer. If f you have a nest of partridges, also encourage them; all the summer they live on insects, on wireworms, &c.; and consider how many millions a covey will destroy in a single summer. Again, always remember that moles feed upon insects, and of which the wireworm is the chief; if you doubt this, open a mole and peep into his stomach. Again, do not fear that moles injure your crops either in a field or in a garden; it is a low and vulgar error to suppose that they root up young corn; they never go anywhere until the wireworms have first destroyed the plants, and then, innocent things, they are punished for others' faults! If you do not like to see their hills, knock them about with a hoe, as I did; it is a healthful amusement, and they will do your lands good. Do not despise my plan because the farmers will not adopt it in your neighbourhood: farmers adopt nothing till driven to it, and nothing that is new and good."