THE INSECTIVOROUS BATS 



Brown Wrinkled-lipped Bat, Cape Slit-faced Bat, 

 Cape Horseshoe Bat, and European Horseshoe Bat. 



Insectivorous Bats in South Africa usually have 

 one young at a birth. It clings tight to the parent's 

 bosom, w^ith its hind feet and the clav^ed thumbs on 

 its vvings. It usually has one of the mother's teats 

 in its mouth. By this means it is enabled to cling 

 tighter. The young one holds close and firmly to 

 the mother, and never leaves her for an instant until 

 almost full-grow^n. The commonest of the insect- 

 eating bats in South Africa are the Cape Horseshoe 

 Bat, Cape Slit-faced Bat, several species of Serotine 

 Bats, Bourbon Bat, Long-winged Bat, and Wrinkled- 

 lipped Bat. 



All species of Insectivorous Bats can, without 

 question, be claimed to be of the greatest economic 

 value to man in his hard struggle against the armies 

 of noxious insects with which he is surrounded, and 

 which carry disease and death to him and his flocks 

 and herds in some instances ; and in others, ruin, 

 dire and complete, to the produce of his fields. 



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