Mr. Montagu's Account of some Species of Bats. 169 



congregated; but they seldom or never enter those gloomy 

 regions which nature has consigned to the others as an exclusive 

 right of inheritance. 



Contemplating the frolics and evolutions of these little crea- 

 tures in our summer evenings perambulations, must bring to 

 recollection the extraordinary opinion of some philosophers, 

 who scarcely admit their progressive motion to be an act of fly- 

 ing. How little can such have attentively observed their sud- 

 den and rapid turns in pursuit of flies ! It might be fairly asked, 

 How much inferior are the aerial excursions of a Bat to that of 

 a swallow, one of the most powerful on wing of the feathered 

 tribe ? and might we not pronounce, without risk of refutation, 

 that a Bat far surpasses the greater part of birds in its powers of 

 flight ? 



If we are to give the utmost credit to the experiments of 

 Spalanzani and M. de Jurinc, the conclusion would be, that 

 vision is not of any apparent use to these animals, since they fly 

 about with as much ease, and equally avoid obstacles, when 

 their eyes are covered, or even put out, as they do previous to 

 that operation. That their eyes, being minutely small, are not 

 calculated to admit many rays of light, as in most nocturnal 

 birds, must be allowed, but then they have no occasion to 

 distinguish their prey at a distance. If it be denied that their 

 eyes are of any use in the discerning of objects against which 

 they might strike, surely they must be equally useless in disco- 

 vering the smaller winged insects on which they prey in the dusk 

 of the evening. 



Can we, however, meditate on the wonderfully rapid turns 

 and evolutions of these creatures in pursuit of their prey, and 

 not allow them the powers of sight to effect the first principle of 

 life, a power not denied to any known animal possessed of a red 



vol. ix. 7, circa- 



