110 ELEMENTS OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



tending back to the body and the hind limbs is the web of 

 the wing. The thumb, however, is not involved in the wing, 

 but forms a claw of great use in supporting the body, 

 although when at rest they usually hang by the five claws 

 of the hind feet. The jaws are provided with incisors, 

 canines, premolars, and molars. Bats are social animals, 

 occurring in large numbers in caves, deserted buildings, and 



FIG. 44. Skeleton of bat. 



the like, where they spend the day, and it is remarkable 

 that these colonies are usually entirely male or female. In 

 a rough way the bats may be divided into fruit-eating and 

 insect-eating forms, their habits being correlated with 

 peculiarities of structure. To the fruit-eating species 

 belong the large bats of the East Indies known as flying 

 foxes. All of our bats are insect-eating. Some of the 

 South American bats (not the one called the vampyre by 

 Liune) are known to suck the blood of other mammals. 



