140 THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 



hol. It was not yet quite late enough in the 

 season when we were at the Cave, Oct. 16th- 

 22d, for all the bats to be in winter quarters, as 

 the season was very open and warm. Still, in 

 the galleries where they most abound, we found 

 countless groups of them on the ceilings, chip- 

 pering and scolding for a foothold among each 

 other. On one little patch of not over four or 

 five inches, we counted forty bats, and were sat- 

 isfied that one hundred and twenty at least were 

 able to stand on the surface of a foot square ; 

 for miles they are found in patches of various 

 sizes, and a cursory glance satisfied us that it 

 was quite safe to estimate them by millions. In 

 these gloomy and silent regions, where there is 

 neither change of temperature nor difibrence of 

 light to warn them of the revolving seasons, how 

 do they know when to seek again the outer air 

 when the winter is over, and their long sleep is 

 ended ? Surely, He who made them has not left 

 them without a law for the government of their 

 lives." 



It is supposed that the rats obtain their sub- 

 sistence chiefly from the remnants of food left in 

 various parts of the Cave by the visitors. 



