174 A FEW GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 



submitted to the ordeal of his tongue, and his silky coat being 

 carefully arranged, he was ready for flight, and I generally in- 

 dulged him with his liberty in the room for a short time, where 

 he exhibited great activity in catching the common house flies. 

 Linnaeus, in placing the bat in the order of primates, appears to 

 have considered the species as entitled to rank in the same order 

 with mankind, from a degree of resemblance in the structure of 

 the skeleton ; but whether this animal forms a connecting link 

 between the human race and birds, I am scarcely prej)ared to 

 say : however, such appeared to be the opinion of Linnseus. 

 The bat is endowed with extraordinary powers of hearing, the 

 slightest sound does not escape his ear at night, and he is equally 

 attentive to the shrill pipe of the gnat, or the drowsy hum of 

 the dor beetle. Many have been the fables inspired by the 

 supposition that the large Madagascar bat, commonly called the 

 vampyre, extracted the blood from the veins of persons asleep. 

 They have been considered by many admirable naturalists as a 

 most pernicious and mischievous animal : however, the following 

 account by a gentleman, from a very excellent Magazine I have 

 lately perused,* is contradictory to the idea. He states that 

 having kept a vampyre four years in confinement, he could assert 

 he 7iever saw it attempt to bite, and he was perfectly convinced 

 the species did not possess that propensity. f 



t will now proceed to observe on another, though further 

 removed aerial quadruped, which, although not provided with 

 wings, yet by means of a membrane extended between its front 

 and hinder legs, it bounds, or flies, if I may so express myself, 

 from tree to tree, and thus makes its progress to great distances. 

 This most elegant little animal, the Diadelphia Sciura — "D. 

 hypochondiris prolixis valitans, supra cana, cauda villosissima 

 prehensili apium versus nigra," of Shaw, is now classed with the 

 large flying squirrel of New Holland, commonly called the 

 Diadelphus Petaurus, or large flying Opossum, which Shaw has 

 separated from the flying squirrel. Baron Cuvier has adopted 

 the name of Ptezomys, which I believe has been retained by the 

 Zoological Society, where one of a most beautiful description 

 was in great estimation a few years ago. Mr. Vigors well 

 observes that the descent of the flying squirrel more nearly 

 resembles that of a parachute than the flight of a bird.j 



I must not omit to mention an extraordinary animal discovered 

 in New Holland, and now in the British Museum, of a three- 

 fold nature, which appears to unite birds, animals, and fish. I 

 here allude to the duck-billed Platypus (Omithorynchus.) This 

 singular little creature has four short legs with webbed feet, a 

 duck's bill instead of a mouth, of a yellowish colour, and in 



* Chambers's Edinburgh Magazine. 



t This very clover work will amply repay the time occupied in its perusal. 



X Vide the Account of the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, by Mr. Vigors. 



