176 TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



or less intermediate in structure. This is not the case as 

 regards bats. Bats, as soon as they appear at all, appear 

 as thoroughly and as perfectly organised as are those bats 

 living among us now. And living bats are separated 

 from all other beasts in a very marked manner. They 

 constitute an order by themselves, and this fact, together 

 with the various others we have been able to set down, 

 may enable the reader to answer the question, " What 

 is a bat ? " in a reasonable manner. 



But the questions, How bats came to be ? What was the 

 origin of the bat ? we are by no means able to answer. 

 We cannot say what creatures may have been the bat's 

 genetic predecessors, or at what epoch the bat first 

 appeared, save that it was before the deposition of the 

 tertiary rocks. 



There is one animal, found in Singapore and Borneo, 

 which has been supposed to show some affinity to bats. 

 This is the colugo, or, as it is sometimes called, the flying 

 lemur (Fig. 43). 



It has its fingers webbed, while a membrane extends 

 on either side between the arms and the legs, and from 

 the legs to the tail. So far it is like a bat, but its fingers 

 are not elongated and its toes are webbed, while those 

 of the bat are not. Moreover, though it takes long 

 jumps through the air and may be able somewhat to 

 guide its flight, it certainly does not truly fly. We can- 

 not therefore regard this animal as exhibiting any indica- 

 tion of the source of the bat tribe. 



We must, it seems, wait for more light from the 

 stores of yet undiscovered fossils which the earth 

 contains. 



