Actually Google recomend using the IP address of the bot vai a DNS lookup:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2006/09/how-to-...
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2006/09/how-to-...
The way Google suggests there actually seems a little bit nefarious, as it makes it hard-coded to Google instead of working for any search engine.