MAMMALIA — BAT. 91 



"A little before day-break, when my early hours gave me frequent oppor- 

 tunities of observing him, he seemed to solicit my attention ; and if I 

 presented my finger to him, he licked or nibbled it with great gentleness, 

 but eagerly took fruit when I offered it, though he seldom ate much at his 

 morning repast : when the day brought back his night, his eyes lost their 

 lustre and strength, and he composed himself for a slumber of ten or eleven 

 .lours. 



" My little friend was, on the whole, very engaging ; and when he was 

 found lifeless, in the same posture in which he would naturally have slept, 

 I consoled myself with believing that he died without much pain, and lived 

 with as much pleasure as he could have enjoyed in a state of captivity." 



ORDER THIRD — CHE IROPTE R A. 



These animals are in their general form disposed for flight. Their inci- 

 sors are variable in number; canines more or less strong; molars some- 

 times covered with points, sometimes furrowed longitudinally ; a fold of 

 skin between the four members and the fingers of the anterior feet ; two 

 pectoral mammae ; very strong clavicles ; scapulas large : fore arms not 

 capable of rotation. 



THE BAT. 



An animal, which, like the bat, is half quadruped and half bird, and which, 

 in fact, is neither the one nor the other, is a kind of monster. In the bat, 

 the fore feet are, properly speaking, neither wings nor feet, though the 

 animal uses them for the purpose of flying, and occasionally of moving 

 along upon the ground. They are, in fact, two shapeless extremities, of 

 which the bones are of a monstrous length, and connected by a membrane, 

 not covered with feathers, or even with hair, like the rest of the body : they 

 are a kind of winged paws, or hands, ten times larger than the feet, and in 

 all, four times longer than the whole length of the body of the animal : they 

 are, in a word, parts which have rather the appearance of a capricious and 

 accidental, than a regular and determined production. 



To these incongruities, these disproportions of the hody and members, 

 may be added the still more striking deformities of the head. In some 

 species, the nose is hardly visible, the eyes are sunk near the tip of the ear, 

 and are confounded with the cheeks ; in others, the ears aie as long as the 

 body, or else the face is twisted into the form of a horse-shoe, and the nose 

 covered with a kind of crust. Averse, likewise, to the society of all other 

 creatures, they shun the light, inhabit none but dark and gloomy places, to 

 Avhich, after their nocturnal excursions, they are sure to return by break of 

 day, and in which they remain, fixed, as it were, to the walls, till nigh' 

 again approaches 



