THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



OCTOBER, 1875. 

 BATS AND THEIR YOUIsrG. 



By Peof. BUET G. WILDEE. 



EXCEPTING the colder regions, all parts of the world are inhab- 

 ited by bats. There are many kinds, and they often occur in 

 very large numbers. Probably there are very few persons, young or 

 old, who have not seen a bat. Yet, aside from professed naturalists, 

 it is equally probable that there are still fewer who, from direct obser- 

 vation, could give any accurate description of their appearance or 

 their habits, their structure, or their relations with the " birds of the 

 air," or the "beasts'of the earth," to both of which bats bear more or 

 less resemblance. 



Nor is this strange ; for bats pass the day in caves and deserted 

 buildings, and fly about in pursuit of prey only in the twilight. Much 

 less rapid than that of birds, their ^ight is so irregular as to render 

 it difficult to follow their course, and in the dusk they are often mis- 

 taken for somewhat eccentric members of the swallow family. 



Their very aspect is repulsive ; they often emit an unpleasant 

 odor ; and, worse than all, there is reason for believing them to serve 

 as the vehicle by which the Gimex lectularius, that terror of house- 

 keepers, has sometimes gained entrance to habitations where its 

 presence would never have been suspected. 



"When taken they bite so fiercely that we may be thankful that 

 they are no larger, and that, as a rule, they prefer insects to human 

 beings as food. No tiger could be more violent in its demonstrations 

 or more capable of using its only weapons, the sharp, almost needle- 

 like eye-teeth. 



This accounts for the rarity of instances of the domestication of 

 bats, and this, in part, for the difficulty of making any extended obser- 

 vations upon them. Having found recorded but two such cases, I 

 will begin my account of bats in general with a brief history of one 

 individual which I succeeded in taming quite thoroughly. It was 



VOL. TII. 41 



