650 COLLEGE ZOOLOGY 



northern part of the United States. It is about three and three 

 quarters inches in length and resembles a mouse in appearance. 

 The short-tailed shrew, Blarina brevicanda, is also a resident of 

 the Northern states. 



Other families of insectivores are (1) the Madagascar tenrecs 

 (Centetule) , (2) the solenodonts (Solenodontid^e) of Cuba 

 and Haiti, (3) the golden moles (Chrysochlorid,e) of South 

 Africa, (4) the hedgehogs (Erinaceid^e) of Europe, Asia, and 

 North Africa, (5) the Oriental tree shrews (Tupaiid^:) of India 



Fig. 516. — The long-tailed shrew, Sorex personalus. (From Ingersoll.) 



and Borneo, and (6) the jumping shrews (MACROSCELiDiDiE) of 

 Africa. 



Order Chiroptera. — Bats. — The bats are easily distinguished 

 from other mammals by the modification of their fore limbs for 

 flight. The fore arm and fingers are elongated and connected 

 with each other and with the hind feet, and usually the tail, by 

 a thin leathery membrane. Because of their remarkable powers 

 of locomotion bats are very widely distributed, occurring on 

 small islands devoid of other mammals. There are more than 

 six hundred species of bats. Most of them are small and 

 chiefly nocturnal. During the day they go into retirement and 

 hang head downward suspended by the claws of one or both legs. 

 At night bats fly about actively in search of insects. Some of 

 them live on fruit, and a few suck the blood of other mammals. 



The fruit-eating bats (suborder Mega chiroptera; Family 

 Pteropid^e) occur in Africa, Asia, Australia, and the East 



