42 INTRODUCTION 



parts and membranes; (3) sight; (4) smell ;^ and (5) taste. 

 This explanation is so apparently reasonable and in accord- 

 ance with probability, that it is to be hoped that these unfortu- 

 nate creatures will escape the pain of further investigations. 



Without resorting to the cruel artifices of continental - 

 zoologists, an English naturalist, Mr Whitaker, has been able 

 to corroborate their work, and it may now be regarded as 

 almost certain that a vast expansion of the most exquisite 

 sense of touch over the whole surface of the wing, plays a most 

 important part in making nocturnal flight possible. In 

 addition, therefore, to their more obvious uses, the flying 

 membranes,^ and, it should be added, the ear, with the hairs 

 which scantily cover these parts, almost certainly function as 

 organs of perception. It seems that Cuvier was not far wrong 

 when he wrote that "it is by means of the pulsations of the 

 wings on the air that the propinquity of solid bodies is perceived, 

 by the manner in which air reacts upon their surface." 

 Whether or no the numerous striations which traverse the wings 

 and the interfemoral membrane have anything to do with this 

 power is a matter for future study. 



The variable development of the ear and tragus in the 

 different genera and species is indicative of corresponding 

 variations in use. The broad, short ear of Nyctalus and 

 Pipistrellus is accompanied by extensive sweat or oil glands* 

 on the sides of the muzzle, which are connected with the highly 

 developed nasal branches of the fifth nerve. In Vespertilio and 

 Myotis the ear and tragus are larger, but the glands are less 

 extensively developed. Barbastella and PlecotuSy on the other 

 hand, present a very remarkable extreme, both of ear and 

 glandular development. Lastly, in Rhmolophus we see a simple 

 ear without a tragus, but with well-developed antitragus, large 



' In the families VespertilionidcE and Rhinolophid(Z the ethmoid bones depart so 

 widely from the plan usual in mammals that a strong development of the sense of 

 smell is suggested ; see Harrison Allen, Bull. Mus. Comparative Zoology (Harvard, 

 U.S.A.), X., 3, 160, 1882-83. 



^ Spallanzani, De Jurine, Spadone, etc. See Edward Newman, Field., 20th Dec. 

 1873, 628 ; J. Mcintosh, Zoologist, 1850, 2814. 



•'' The wing is richly supplied with blood, the circulation of which is assisted by 

 rhythmically contractile, valvular veins, as described by Jones ; and Leydig ; see 

 also for its structure, J. Schobl, Archiv fiir Mikrosk. Anat., Bd. vii., i, pi. i.-iv., 1870. 



* Hahn suggests that these " fatty pads " may have a protective value in prevent- 

 ing injury to the animal's head when it strikes an obstacle {op. cit., 176). 



