mals, bats arc infested with parasites, just as a dog or 

 cat may be infested with fleas, but the examination of 

 thousands of live specimens by the author has never 

 revealed "Cimex lectularis." As to their getting tan- 

 gled in the hair, such a thing is quite possible but not 

 at all probable, and certainly it would not be necessary 

 to cut ofif all of one's hair in order to extricate some 

 poor unfortunate creature that might become so en- 

 meshed. The bats have tiny, clinging feet, and on the 

 apices of the wings they have tiny claws which aid in 

 crawling and holding on to the rocks or the bark of 

 trees. These claw^s are located on the bones that corre- 

 spond to the thumb and inasmuch as they are used in 

 much the same manner as the latter, the order thus 

 derived its name. With such an equipment, the crea- 

 ture could cause some discomfiture were it to alight on 

 one's head, but no bat ever went around looking for 

 someone's hair to get tangled up in, and should such 

 an occurrence take place, there is no doubt that the Bat 

 would be just as frightened as the victim of such an 

 experience. Although it is equipped with many sharp 

 teeth, such a diminutive creature could not inflict any 

 injury worth w^orrying about. 



Bats should be considered among man's friends, 

 because they are entirely insectivorous. Thousands of 

 mosquitoes, gnats and May beetles are destroyed by 

 a single animal within a short time. 



While we may have "bats in our attics," they do 

 not, as a rule, disturb humans, seeming to prefer caves 

 or hollow trees for their homes. Occasionally, they 

 will occupy unused chimneys or lofts in barns and, 

 frequently, they rest under the eaves of a house during 

 the day or hang head downward from twigs of trees, 

 but it is seldom that they become pestiferous. 



-H 75 J^- 



