Order CHIEOPTERA. 



The Bats, which animals constitute the above order, 

 are mammals with the forelimbs greatly lengthened and 

 supporting a membrane which is modified for flight. 



The bones of the arm and the four fingers are elon- 

 gated ; the thumb or pollux is short and bears a claw, 

 and is not connected with the flying membrane or 

 patagium, which is united to the fingers, forearm, sides 

 of the body, and tail. The teeth never number more 

 than 38. The skeleton is very light. 



The name ** Chiroptera " means '* handwinged," from 

 the fact that the apparatus for flight is furnished mainly 

 by the fore limbs. 



Bats vary considerably in their powers of flight — as 

 much, perhaps, as flying birds, and may be seen on the 

 wing during the evening and night, making sudden 

 dashes after insects. They possess a curious " second 

 sense," which may be termed " tactile," although it 

 appears to be something more ; they have the power of 

 avoiding objects without actually coming in contact with 

 them or being able to see them, which was once .suf- 

 ficiently proved by cruelly blinding the poor creatures 

 and turning them out into a room across which a number 

 of threads had been stretched. Bats are helpless on a 

 flat surface, and can then only crawl very slowly. 



They usually suspend themselves by the hind legs head 

 downwards from the rafters in ceilings, from ledges of 

 rock or branches of trees, and remain like that during the 

 day-time, sallying forth at night in quest of food. 



We found the limestone caves on the Hennops River, 



