mate are extremely small : thus these species from instinct 

 seek those dark and dreary abodes, and wholly retire from 

 the face of day, their feelings being repugnant to the benign 

 influence of the solar rays, which vivifies and reanimates all 

 nature besides. 

 Others only The v. noctula, murinus, auritus, and probably barbas- 



*rctnes, tCX * te ^ us i whose constitutions appear more robust, do not re- 

 tire into total darkness, nor wholly remove from the vicis- 

 situdes of the surrounding atmosphere; but, being formed 

 by nature to bear a greater degree of either heat or cold, 

 content themselves with such a hybernaculum as is suffici- 

 ent to protect them equally from the extremes of one or 

 the other. Thus we find these in the fissures of old build- 

 ings, in towers, under the eaves of houses and churches, 

 and in the hollows of trees, and not unfrequently congre- 

 gated ;but they seldom or never enter those gloomy regions, 

 which nature tjias consigned to the others as an exclusive 

 right of inheritance. 

 The bat supe- Contemplating the frolics and evolutions of these little 



nor to most creatures in our summer evenings perambulations must 



birds in pow- . 



*rs of fight, bring to recollection the extraordinary opinion of some phi- 

 losophers, who scarcely admit their progressive motion to 

 be an act of flying. How little can such have attentively 

 observed their sudden and rapid turns in pursuit of flies ! 

 It might be fairly asked, How much inferior are the atrial 

 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? 



Supposed not If we are to give the utmost credit to the experiments 



^iou mre of Spallanzani and Mr. de Jurine, 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 this 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 



