CHETROPTERA. 13 
One of the most complete examples of the skeleton of 
a Bat, from a crevice of a bone-caye in the Mendips, 
although partially fossilized, is here figured rather with 
a view to aid the collector of Mammalian remains in the 
recognition of the Cheiropterous characters, than as an 
example of a species coeval with the great Bear and Mam- 
moth of the same cavern. 
The short and expanded cranium (fig. 5, @), with the 
ve and 
5 
wide inferior apertures caused by the loss of the lar 
naturally loose bony vesicles of the ear-drum,—the short 
and broad upper jaw, with the characteristic wide and 
deep anterior notch, occupied in ordinary Mammalia by the 
intermaxillary bones,—and the teeth, bristling with sharp 
points, all yield unequivocal characters of the insectivorous 
Bat. 
The large and broad scapula, the long and strong clavicle 
(fig. 5, c), bespeak the muscular forces, and the resistance 
required for the use of the arm in the vigorous actions of 
flight: the bones of the fore-arm and hand, and those of 
the hinder extremity, equally illustrate that remarkable 
organization, the final purposes of which have been so well 
explained by the author of the History of the existing 
Mammalia of Britain. 
“'The sternum, the ribs, and the bones composing the 
shoulder,” says Professor Bell,* ‘are all developed for the 
attachment of powerful muscles, adapted to the rapid and 
continued movements of the anterior extremity, which, 
although consisting essentially of the same parts as that of 
Man, has its different bones so modified in form and extent 
as to afford the most admirable and complete support to an 
extensive expansion of the skin, which thus forms a perfect 
and efficient pair of wings. This modification principally 
* Bell’s British Quadrupeds, p. 3. 
