THE HORSESHOE BAT. 



107 



able position for taking to the air", and when they desire to fly need only to spread their 

 wings, and loosing their foothold, to launch themselves into the air. 



There may be, and probably are, other reasons for the curious reversed attitude, but that 

 which has already been given accounts in some measure for it. Even among the birds 

 examples are found of a similar mode of repose ; members of the genus Colius, an African group 

 of birds, sleep suspended like the bats, clinging with their feet, and hanging with their heads 

 downwards. But these birds cannot assume this attitude for the purpose of taking to flight, 

 as their wings are used as readily as those of most other feathered creatures, and therefore the 

 reason which was given for the reversed position of the bats will not apply to the birds. 



On the nose of the Vampire Bat may be observed a curious membrane of a leaf -like shape. 

 This strange and not prepossessing appendage to the animal is found in some of the bats which 



THE GKEAT HORSESHOE BAT.Jtftinolophusferrum-fgulnum. 



inhabit Great Britain. Among the bats which possess the leaf-decorated nose, the GREAT 

 HORSESHOE BAT is the most conspicuous. In its wings and body it differs but very little 

 from other bats. 



The membrane which gives to this creature the title of Horseshoe Bat, is extremely large 

 in proportion to the size of the animal, though not so large as in some of the foreign bats. It 

 is double in form, that portion which is in front resembling a horseshoe in shape, and curving 

 from the lips upwards, so as to embrace the nostrils. The second leafy membrane is placed on 

 the forehead, and is sharply pointed. 



The ears of this bat are large, pointed, and marked with a succession of ridges, which 

 extend from the margins nearly half-way across the ears. The "tragus," or inner ear, is 

 wanting in this bat, but its office seems to be fulfilled by a large rounded lobe at the base 

 of the ear. 



The color of the fur is gray with a slight tinge of red above, while on the under portions 

 of the animal the ruddy tint vanishes, and the hair is of a very pale gray. The membrane 

 is of a dusky hue. The bat is not a very large one, the length of the head and body being 

 only two inches and a half, while that of the extended wings is about thirteen inches. The 

 ears are half an inch in breadth, when measured at their widest part, and are about three- 

 quarters of an inch in length. 



What may be the object of the wonderful nasal appendage seems to be quite unknown. 

 The most obvious idea is, that it is given to the animals for the purpose of increasing the 



