During a study of North African mouse-eared bats in Morocco in August 1993 (Arlettaz et al., 1997) some accidental observations on chiropterophagy by the snake Coluber hippocrepis were made. This adds a new species to the list of bat-eating serpents documented so far (for a general review see Schätti, 1984). In addition, our observations lead to some recommendations for the construction of bat grilles at underground sites to minimize predation risk by snakes or other predators upon bats.

Sexual size dimorphism in the Cape petrel Daption capense was analysed to improve methods for sexing live birds in field studies. Samples originated from two geographically distant study populations in the Antarctic: Nelson Island, South Shetland Islands (sample N: 83 M, 89 F), and Ardery and O'Connor Islands, Windmill Islands (sample A: 36 M, 27 F). Using single characters with cut points calculated from sexed individuals, about 59–76% (N; best separator tarsus length) and 61–86% (A; best separator tube length) of birds could be assigned to the correct sex. Combination of characters improved performance of sample-specific discriminant functions to a maximum of 84% in the N-sample (five characters) and 95% in the A-sample (four characters). The most useful character sets as well as ranking of individual characters (their weights) differed between samples. At the same time, cross-testing revealed asymmetry in the applicability of sample-specific functions to the other sample. Hence, the method of a generalized discriminant (Auk110: 492–502, 1993) was implemented and tested to develop a species-specific discriminant for the Cape petrel. For all examined character sets, results of their cross-application to the other sample were improved by using character weights estimated from combined samples instead of weights derived only from the original sample. The generalized function (tube length + 1.05*bill depth at tube + 0.72*culmen length + 0.07*wing length) combined with a cut point calculated from a distribution of discriminant scores (assumed mixture of two normal distributions with possibly unequal variances) is suggested as currently the best compromise for sexing Cape petrels in populations for which specific functions are not yet available: comparison with our best sample-specific functions shows a decrease in accuracy by only 1% to 3%. However, examination of other promising characters (head length, bill depth at gonys, mid-toe length) is recommended to improve further a generalized discriminant. In all cases a larger percentage (N: 87–89%, 38 pairs; A: 100%, 27 pairs) of individuals was correctly sexed by within-pair comparison of discriminant scores than according to the sample-specific cut point. No clear evidence for assortative mating with respect to body size has been found in this study. Available biometric data show little evidence for geographical variation in the Cape petrel, which suggests good applicability of generalized sex-discriminants in other populations.

Understanding the effects of habitat structure on otter (Lutra lutra) movements is critical to conservation management, but such information is scarce for riverine habitats where the species is most vulnerable. Between 1987 and 1990 the patterns of habitat use by five otters from river catchments in north-east Scotland were examined by using radio-telemetry. The main habitat variables analysed were channel width, substrate size, riparian vegetation, proximity to roads and buildings, and the coverage of surrounding vegetation and land use. All of the otters spent more of their time in relatively wide sections of river or stream, with high boulder cover and many riparian trees. However, when use was calculated as the time spent per unit area of water, narrow, gravelly streams were selected by most animals. Some of the habitat features traditionally thought to influence otter movements (e.g. riparian vegetation, land use) did not show the predicted effects. The conservation implications of these observations are discussed.

Reproductive correlates and fitness consequences (survival, recruitment) of variation in the incubation onset of pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) were studied across 4 years in a southern European population, where between 36 and 89% of the females started to incubate with the penultimate egg or earlier. Females started to incubate up to 3 days before completing their clutches, this being accompanied by hatching spread. Females who advanced incubation before completing the clutch tended to be in better condition and to lay larger clutches than those that postponed incubation until the clutch was complete. Although laying date had no effect on onset of incubation, the effect of clutch size was much more marked when the influence of laying date on clutch size was controlled. Females who started to incubate earlier fledged more young than females delaying incubation but their higher fledgling success was unrelated to recruitment. Females starting to incubate with the last egg had fewer fledglings but of larger size, higher mass, and in better condition than females who advanced the incubation. Female survival to the next breeding season did not differ between those that started incubation before clutch completion and those that did not do so, but an advanced onset of incubation by females was related to higher mortality of their pair mates. Females that increased the size of the clutch with respect to the previous year tended to incubate their eggs earlier, while those whose clutch size did not change or was lower started incubation at about the same stage they did the year before. This trend was apparently influenced by improvements in body condition. Clutch size may constrain onset of incubation through environmental or genetic correlations, which are likely to be mediated by hormones. It is proposed that, in this population, an early onset of incubation in pied flycatchers does not affect reproductive fitness in most circumstances.

Numerous studies have documented that bats are unusually long-lived for small mammals (Tuttle & Stevenson, 1982; Jürgens & Prothero, 1987 and references therein). In the absence of data on overall population dynamics, longevity can be an important demographic parameter for interspecific comparisons (Tuttle & Stevenson, 1982). Here, we present the first data on the longevity of a small population of Tadarida teniotis.

We describe the most westerly known maternity colony of Nathusius' pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus nathusii). The bats were identified by using morphometric measurements and analysis of time-expanded echolocation and social calls. The roost, containing approximately 150 individuals, was located in a mid 19th century farm stable block and store house situated in parkland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The roost was visited on 30 April, 1 May and 22 June 1997. Over this period, 11 bats were caught: one adult male, five pregnant females, four lactating females and a juvenile male. Direct observation of behaviour patterns suggests that mating groups of P. nathusii may occur in Ireland as late as May. The migratory nature of this species is discussed.

The swamp worm Alma emini subsists in the highly productive waterlogged swamps around the East African Lake Victoria. The soil consists of putrefying plant matter from which gases like methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulphide are formed and profusely discharged. The interstitial spaces in the soil are generally anoxic and the soil is highly reducing. To survive in such an inimical habitat, Alma has evolved a remarkably unique respiratory strategy. The posterodorsal part of the body, which is well supplied with blood, is regularly converted into a ‘lung’ across which gases are exchanged at the surface or under water. Air and/or water may be entrapped in the ‘lung’ and carried for use (as a source of oxygen and/or a depository of carbon dioxide) during the ensuing underground sojourn. By evolving a unique respiratory potential, Alma emini has been able to flourish in a highly dynamic and virtually anoxic habitat while essentially having a capacity for aerobic biochemistry. Putative indications of cellular adaptations against hydrogen sulphide toxicity were observed, especially in the cells that line the ‘lung’. A. emini presents a good example of nature's tenacious and innovative designs for surviving in severe environments.

Prolonged sperm storage, rare among mammals, is widespread among bats and may promote sperm competition, assuming stored sperm are fertile. However, while sperm storage has been documented in many bat species, there have been few investigations of the fertility of stored sperm. Related to this, and a fundamental question in the study of competition at the gametic level, is the effect of mating order on success during sperm competition. For mammals there are no clear mating order effects, in part because females do not store sperm for prolonged periods, but there have been no investigations of mating order effects during sperm competition in sperm-storing bats. I report here on a study designed to investigate the fertility of stored sperm and the effects of mating order on success during sperm competition in a captive colony of Australian long-eared bats Nyctophilus geoffroyi (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae). Bats were housed in outdoor flight-cages, under natural light and temperature regimes. Females were housed serially with two males and were separated from them at intervals throughout the year.

Blood plasma progesterone concentrations, measured using double antibody radioimmunoassay, were monitored to assess the duration of sperm storage. Paternity of offspring was assessed using genetic markers identified using gel electrophoresis of blood enzymes. Blood plasma progesterone concentrations were basal from early autumn till mid-late winter, increased markedly during pregnancy, and generally fell back to basal 5–6 weeks post-partum. Data indicated that females could store fertile sperm for more than 90 days, while sperm stored by males were fertile after 4–5 months' storage. Paternity was significantly biased toward one male which fathered all offspring. Results are discussed in the context of sperm competition.

Scent-marking behaviour and inter-pack aggression were studied in wild Ethiopian wolf, Canis simensis, packs. Raised-leg urinations, followed by ground scratching, were the most frequently deposited scent-mark. Scent-marking rates were highest along or near territory boundaries, where distances between scent-marking sites were reduced and the proportion of multiple marks was increased, relative to other areas. Marking rates increased with wolf numbers during patrols but not during other activities. Although all adult members of a pack contributed to scent-marking, the dominant pair marked most frequently. Subadult males scent-marked occasionally but subadult females never did. Wolves vigorously over-marked neighbours' scent-marks. Most direct encounters between neighbouring wolves at territory borders were aggressive and involved repeated chases, and the larger group was most likely to win. Resident wolves were more tolerant of opposite-sex than same-sex neighbours. Resident wolves therefore signalled pack composition and status at home range borders by olfactory and auditory cues and by aggressive contests. Such signalling may reduce the occurrence of potentially costly inter-pack aggressive encounters at territory borders and provide information on reproductive status.

The following Applications were published on 18 December 1997 in Vol. 54, Part 4 of the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. Comment or advice on any of these applications is invited for publication in the Bulletin and should be sent to the Executive Secretary (ICZN), c/o The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, U.K.

Spatial distribution of scarabeoid beetles on dung pats was studied in the Argentera Natural Park (south-western Italian Alps) from June to September in 1994 and 1995. Artificial dung pats were distributed evenly within the study area (about 1400 m a.s.l.) and sampled at suitable dung ages (1–13 days). Two experimental tests were carried out. In the first test, experimental pats were covered with metallic nets which prevented the largest species from reaching the dung, whilst in the second test a variable number of individuals of large or relatively large species was added to the experimental pats.

The community was dominated by Aphodius species (19 out of 25 species), which usually were also the most abundant in the pats. The densities of most species were relatively low most of the time with average abundances lower than two individuals per pat. Even though some interspecific differences were observed, ecological overlap between species was rather high with regard both to seasonality and succession in the dropping. Manipulative tests suggested that small beetles were not excluded by larger beetles. Patterns of spatial distribution showed some degree of intra- and interspecific aggregation. Proximate mechanisms of aggregation are probably non-specific. The ultimate cause of aggregation might be mate-finding. Alternatively, individuals might aggregate because the very same presence of beetles within a dung pat would modify its chemical status improving its quality. Intraspecific aggregation (measured by means of the J index) was much higher than interspecific aggregation (C index) which suggests, according to the Aggregation Model, that interspecific coexistence might be facilitated. However, the data gave no evidence for intra- and interspecific competition between adult beetles.

The Eurasian badger (Meles meles) is considered to be a harvester rather than a hunter (Kruuk, 1989), because its food usually consists of vegetables and small and easily captured animals, such as worms and insects, and it rarely captures mammals (Neal, 1986). However, in the Doñana National Park of Mediterranean Spain the badger apparently behaves as a facultative specialist in the consumption of young rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus (Martín, Rodríguez & Delibes, 1995). In 1990, an outbreak of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (RHD) caused high mortality among adult rabbits in most of the Doñana area (Villafuerte et al., 1994), although all sites of Doñana were not affected to the same extent. This situation offered the possibility of comparing the food habits of badgers in the Doñana Biological Reserve (DBR) before (data of Martín et al., 1995) and after the outbreak of RHD, while using another site where rabbit density has changed little over the last few years as a control area.

The publisher apologises for the error which occurred on page 450, where an incorrect version of Fig. 1(c) was reproduced. The correct version of Fig. 1(a)–1(d) is printed below.

Twenty lambs (median body weight 37.2 kg) were kept on a paddock of 0.56 ha in England for four weeks in autumn. A 10 m grid was marked out in the paddock and from 10 of the 54 grid squares, all faeces were removed by hand at the start of each week. Faecal abundance was estimated by a point quadrat technique and observations of behaviour were made by scan sampling at intervals of 10 min during 15 h in each week. Each lamb produced on average 0.72 kg wet weight of faeces per day. Removal of faeces had no effect on grazing behaviour and the only correlation between faecal abundance and behaviour was that night lying tended to be on areas where faecal abundance was high. This was probably due to the lambs preferring certain areas for night lying and defecating heavily in these areas before starting to graze in the morning. Faecal encounter during daytime grazing was affected neither by sheep body weight nor by parasite burden. Behavioural mechanisms of avoidance of faeces are probably not detectable when behaviour is studied in the context of grid squares of 100 m2 and further study should include detailed observations on the grazing paths of individual sheep.

The arterial supply to the eyes and brain of the common thresher shark, Alopias vulpinus, was examined and compared with that of five other lamniform shark species. Temperatures of the eyes and brain in two of these species were shown in previous studies to be higher than ambient. This was considered to be correlated with the presence of an orbital rete mirabile derived from the hyoidean efferent and pseudobranchial arteries. This study shows that the pseudobranchial artery forms a rete in only one of the two species previously shown to be warm, indicating that the brain of the other species is warmed by a non-retial vessel. This finding raises the possibility of brain and eye warming in Alopias vulpinus, which lacks an orbital rete mirabile.

During a period in the 1980s when both European mink Mustela lutreola and American mink M. vison were present in Estonia, their food was significantly different. European mink ate a greater proportion of fish and crustaceans, whereas American mink took relatively more mammals and frogs. This was probably related to a difference in habitat selection. After the disappearance of the European mink, the diet of the American mink in our main study area was similar to that of the European in the same area previously. Two alternative hypotheses are presented for the mechanisms which led to the replacement of European mink by the American species: (i) the two species have a different niche, and the American mink could replace the European mink after the latter had disappeared for unrelated reasons, or (ii) the American mink aggressively ousted the European mink, a process starting in the American mink's preferred habitat (slow flowing rivers). At present there are insufficient data to reject either of these scenarios.

In the Bible, Ethiopia is known as the land of Cush – an exotic and largely unknown territory. It was almost equally unfamiliar to Alfred Russell Wallace when he divided the world's animals into groups according to their geographic origins, but the country so fascinated him that he gave the name ‘Ethiopian Region’ to the whole of Africa. Later, Ethiopia escaped the extended periods of European colonization experienced by its neighbours, and the country remains in our minds one of the more exotic and mysterious areas of the world and a place of great zoological interest.

We quantified the percentage cover of habitats and the extent of linear features within 2 km of 11 maternity roosts of the 55 kHz phonic type of pipistelles Pipistrellus pipistrellus in south-west England, and compared these with habitats around random points. The dominant habitats around both roosts and random points were improved grassland and built-up areas. There was significantly more water (especially water edge habitat with woodland or hedgerow on the banks), and continuous hedgerow with emergent trees, around roosts. Preference for freshwater habitats around roosts was shown in comparisons of single habitats, and in compositional analyses with and without the inclusion of urbanized random points. These habitats may be preferred by 55 kHz pipistrelles: riparian habitats support large numbers of flying insects of the types eaten by 55 kHz pipistrelles, and hedgerows may be important linear features used by bats. The conservation of continuous hedgerows and watercourses close to maternity roosts would appear to be very important for 55 kHz pipistrelles.

The ship rat Rattus rattus was once widespread throughout the U.K. It is now an endangered species with an estimated 1000 or fewer individuals present in the U.K. and the species is listed in the red data book for British mammals (Morris, 1993). However, it is listed under schedule 9 of the U.K. Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) as a non-native species that should not be released into the wild.

Domestic cats (Felis catus) living in rural areas – hereafter named ‘farm cats’ (Liberg & Sandell, 1988) – show a highly variable degree of dependence on man (Macdonald, 1991). They generally benefit from human presence by getting household food and shelter for resting and reproduction (Niewold, 1986). Nevertheless, despite regular food provisioning by man and as long as their movements are not controlled by their ‘owner’, most farm cats remain active hunters and still feed to a variable extent on wild prey, particularly lagomorphs, rodents and birds (Goldschmidt-Rothschild & Lüps, 1976; Liberg, 1984; Carss, 1995, amongst others), having sometimes a significant impact on prey species (Fitzgerald, 1988).