THE BAT. 117 



THE BAT. 



THIS singular creature, which possesses properties that connect 

 it with both beasts and birds, has been variously placed in systems 

 of natural history. The editor of Calmet, says, * it is too much a 

 bird to be properly a beast, and too much a beast to be properly a 

 bird.' Doubts as to its nature, however, no longer exist. The bat 

 is now universally made to take its place among the animal tribes, 

 to which the bringing forth its young alive, its hair, its teeth, as 

 well as the rest of its habitudes and conformation, evidently entitles 

 it. In no particular, scarcely, does it resemble a bird, except in its 

 power of sustaining itself in the air, which circumstance is scarcely 

 enough to balance the weight of those particulars which we have 

 noticed, as placing it among quadrupeds. 



The Hebrew name of the bat denotes * the flier in duskiness,' i. e. 

 the evening. It was similarly named by the Greeks and the Latins. 

 In Deut, xiv. 18, 19, it is well described : < Moreover the bat, and 

 every creeping thing thatjlieth, is unclean to you : they shall not be 

 eaten.' 



The legs of the bat are formed in a very particular manner, and 

 entirely different from any other animal. It creeps with the instru- 

 ments of its flight. During the entire winter, it conceals itself in its 

 hole, as it does, also, during the day time even in summer, never 

 venturing out, except for an hour or two in the evening, in order to 

 supply itself with food. The usual place in which it takes up its 

 abode is the hollow of a tree, a dark cavern, or the chink of some 

 ruined building, of which it seems particularly fond. This illus- 

 trates Isaiah, ii. 20: 'In that day, a man shall cast his idols of sil- 

 ver and his idols of gold to the moles and to the bats : ' that is, he 

 shall carry his idols into the dark caverns, old ruins, or desolate 

 places, to which he himself shall flee for refuge; and so shall give 

 them up, and relinquish them to the filthy animals that frequent 

 such places, and have taken possession of them as their proper hab- 

 itation. 



