BRITISH QUADRUPEDS. 



PRIMATES. 



OF BATS IN GENERAL. 



JL HESE animals were the cause of much perplexity 

 to the ancient naturalists. The Bats were ranked by 

 them as birds, under the denomination of .aves non 

 aves, " birds, and yet not birds/' Nor was it till 

 towards the close of the seventeenth century, that 

 they were decidedly ascertained to have place 

 amongst the viviparous quadrupeds. They have 

 no alliance with the feathered tribes, further than 

 what arises from the circumstance of their being 

 able, in common with those, to raise themselves 

 into the air. They have neither feathers nor 'beak, 

 but their bodies are clad with hair, and their mouths 

 are furnished with teeth ; and, instead of producing 

 eggs, like birds, they bring into the world living 



offspring, 



