CHIROPTERA OR BATS. 119 



cially adapted for flight. The name is derived from two 

 Greekwords, cheir, a hand, and pteron, a wing. The 

 bones of their forward locomotive appendages are much 

 elongated, and sustain a fold of skin or membrane arising 

 from the sides of the neck and body, and extending back- 

 ward on the hind extremities, the whole forming wings of 

 great extent of surface, thus enabling these animals to fly 

 long and rapidly, and to execute movements as varied and 

 complicated as those of birds. 



FIG. 128. 

 /f9 



fas 

 .* 



7- 



Skeleton of a Bat. 



o, scapula; cl, clavicle; h, burner us; CM, cubitus or ulna; r, radius; ca, carpus; po, 

 thumb; me, metacarpus; ph, phalanges; /, femur ; ti, tibia. 



Bats are nocturnal in their habits, and during the day 

 remain in caves, hollow trees, or other dark places, sus- 

 pended by their hooks, or by the nails of their hind feet. 

 In cold and temperate regions they pass the winter in a 

 state of lethargy. Although their eyes are very small, 

 their large ears and broad wings possess such a delicate 

 sensibility that bats are enabled to fly unharmed through 

 the most winding and complicated passages, and that, too, 

 even after their eyes have been destroyed. 



