ZOOGENESIS CC 



grassy country close to the ground. Such flights are 

 probably for the purpose of cooling themselves 

 through increasing evaporation from their wings and 

 bodies. It may be mentioned that the African ele- 

 phant cools itself in somewhat the same way by 

 flapping its enormous ears. The oriental fruit-bats 

 seem to be guided mostly by their eyes which are 

 larger and much more perfectly developed than are 

 those of the great majority of bats. 



Our common small red bat in still hot weather often 

 flies by day in glades and clearings in the woods. But 

 as its actions in the daytime are in no way different 

 from what they are at dusk there is no reason to sup- 

 pose that in its daylight flying it is not guided by its 

 ears as it is at night. As in the case of the great fruit- 

 bats, it probably flies by day merely to cool its body. 



The birds and bats furnish excellent illustrations of 

 creatures guided almost entirely by sight and hearing. 

 These two senses play the major part in controlling 

 the actions of many other types of vertebrates. 



There is another aspect of bodily control through 

 sight that is worthy of passing mention. This is the 

 effect on us of such control in other things. Subcon- 

 sciously we recognize the fact that our actions are 

 mainly controlled by sight, and we betray this recog- 

 nition in many different phrases. Since eyes control 

 our actions and also the actions of all the familiar 

 animals about us, eyes seem in some indefinite and 

 indefinable way to be the seat of the "spirit," or the 

 focal point of the vital force which animates and 

 activates the body. 



