102 COJtPARISONS OF STRUCTURE IN ANIilALS. 



the root of each bristle is connected with a 

 nerve. Hence they are important organs of 

 touch. The cat stealing along in darkness, in 

 order to invade the pigeon-loft or chicken-pen, 

 is materially aided by these organs, which 

 communicate an impression from the slightest 

 contact with any object. They enable it to 

 creep through crevices without running foul of 

 any impediment, or to steal through tangled 

 brushwood upon the bird or leveret, and thus 

 combine with the power of nocturnal vision, 

 and its springy padded feet, well armed for 

 destruction, to fit it for its insidious habits. 



In the bat, the membranous wings (and 

 often also the external membranous ears) are, 

 as we have before said, organs of refined touch ; 

 they are supplied with an exquisite mesh- 

 work of nerves, and may be said to feel and 

 try the quality of the air as they beat it. 



In the mole, the coarse scrapers have, we 

 apprehend, but a low sense of touch ; in this 

 animal, however, the snout is highly sensitive, 

 and can be moved about very freely, in search 

 of the worms on which the mole so extensively 

 preys. In the burrowing mail-clad armadillo, 

 it is also in the tip of the snout that the sense 

 of touch resides, and perhaps, also, (as well as 



