88 



STJBKINGDOM VEBTEBRATA. 

 Fig. UO. 



Skeleton of a Sat. 



nails. During the day it hides in caves, lofts, etc., and ven- 

 tures out only with the twilight. Its eye is small and appar- 

 ently of little service, as it flits among bushes and intricate 



Fig. 1U1. 



Geoffrey's nycteris, Geoffrey's Bat. 



passages when blinded.* Associated with ideas of gloom, it 

 inspires universal dread, yet it renders great service by 

 devouring noxious insects. To capture these, it curves for- 



* This has led some Zoologists to think that it has a sixth sense. It is probably 

 due, however, to its extraordinary delicacy of touch. The cry of a bat is so shrill 

 that many persons' ears cannot detect it, and Homer (Odyssey 24, 6) compares it to 

 the cries of ghosts. The bat is frequently infested with the common bed-bug ( Cimex 

 lectidarius), and this fact may answer the question of the despairing housewife, 

 " Where can the bugs come from ?" 



