| OCR Text |
Show 316 MISS D. M. A. BATE OX THE [Nov. 14, shells, of the island shows a decided preponderance of European types; the only suggestion of a North-African relationship being found in the Wild Cat and perhaps the Spiny Mouse. T should like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to Mr. Oldfield Thomas, who has again most courteously given me every facility for working out my collection in his department of the British Museum (Natural History). List of Species. 1. R hinolophus ferrum-equinum Schreb. In the latter part of March three large Horseshoe Bats were secured in a cave close to the sea, on the north-west coast of the island. 2. R hinolophus htpposideros Bechst. Only one specimen of this Bat was obtained, from a cave in the hills south of Khania. Neither this nor the above mentioned species appears to have been previously recorded from Crete. 3. M yotis myotis (Bechst.). When visiting the extraordinary underground quarry known as the Labyrinth, near Haghia Dekka in the south of the island, one of the galleries was found to be tenanted by hundreds of Bats belonging to this species. They were hanging from the roof in large clusters and became very noisy when approached. Four specimens were preserved, and these appear to be somewhat smaller than examples from the Continent. These underground galleries have evidently been inhabited by this species of Bat for many hundreds of years; their occurrence in the " Labyrinth " was noticed by Tournefort as early as about 1700*. 4. M iniopterus schreibersi (Natt.). Two examples of this species were also procured, and several others observed, in the so-called Labyrinth. These, however, occurred singly, and in galleries other than those occupied by Myotis myotis. 5. E rinaceus europ.eus nesiotes, subsp. n. On comparing the three specimens obtained of the Cretan Hedgehog, these were found to differ from all the forms of E. europeras represented in the British Museum collection; therefore this island race may be given subspecific rank. In external characters it seems to most closely resemble E. e. itcilicus Barr.-Ham. +, from which it may be distinguished by its slightly smaller size, dingy appearance, and the lighter * See Raulin, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 1033. + Anu. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 7, vol. v. April 1900, p. 364. |
