THE INSECTIVOROUS BATS 



brane, but in their case the eyes are large and 

 specially adapted for seeing clearly at night. 



Many kinds of insect-eating bats have no nose 

 leaves, and in consequence their senses of touch are 

 not so acute as the other kinds possessing w^ell-de- 

 veloped nose membranes. The reason is that those 

 species which do not possess nose leaves issue forth 

 mostly during the early evening and at dawn, in 

 search of their prey, except of course on bright 

 moonlight nights, or in towns where there are street 

 lights. Around these lights swarms of insects hover, 

 which fall easy victims to the active little bats. The 

 bats with large ears and nose leaves issue forth usu- 

 ally after twilight has merged into darkness, for it 

 seems to make no difference to them whether it is 

 pitch dark or moonlight. Their eyes are, in most 

 instances, very tiny, and actual sight apparently does 

 not help them much, if at all, in their movements, or 

 capturing the flying insects on which they feed. To 

 us who are so dependent on our eyesight, it seems 

 hard to believe that other senses can be developed to 

 such a degree of perfection that by means of them, 

 and unaided by eyesight, an animal is guided to 

 its prey, and can find its way about as well, if 

 not better, than we can by means of sight. We 

 are aware, for instance, there are sightless sala- 

 manders and fishes inhabiting the waters in deep 

 caves where no ray of light ever penetrates ; and 

 we have also learned that bats seem in no way 

 handicapped in their flight, or in selecting and 



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