BATS. 27 



possessing the power of flight. A Lemur Galeopithecus 

 which exists in the eastern part of the globe, takes long 

 sweeps from tree to tree, and owes this faculty to the 

 extension of its skin between its fore and hind limbs, 

 including the tail ; but it cannot be really said to fly. 

 The Bats, then, alone enjoy this privilege ; and the pro- 

 longation of what, in common parlance, we should call 

 the arm and fingers, constitutes the framework which 

 supports the skin, or membrane forming the wings. The 

 thumbs, however, are left free, and serve as hooks for 

 various purposes. The legs and tail (when they have 

 any) generally help to extend the membrane of the 

 wing ; and the breast-bone is so formed as to support 

 the powerful muscles which aid their locomotive peculi- 

 arities. They climb and crawl with great dexterity, and 

 some will run when on the ground ; but it is difficult for 

 most of them to move on a smooth horizontal surface, 

 and they drag themselves along by their thumbs. A por- 

 tion of the Cheiroptera feeds on insects, and another on 

 fruits ; one genus subsists chiefly on blood. The first 

 help to clear the atmosphere of those insects which fly at 

 twilight ; the second are very destructive to our gardens 

 and orchards ; the last are especially the object of that 

 superstitious fear to which I have already alluded. They 

 are all nocturnal or crepuscular, and during the clay re- 

 main suspended by the sharp claws of their feet to the 

 under branches of trees, the roofs of caves, subterranean 

 quarries, or old ruins, hanging with their heads down- 

 wards : multitudes live in the tombs of Egypt. 



The appearance of bats is always more or less 

 grotesque ; but this term more aptly applies to those 

 which live on animal food, in consequence of the addi- 

 tions made to the nose and ears, probably for the sake 



