GALEOMMA-GALEOPITHECUS. 



567 



truncated part of its summit, the others a little toothed 

 on their internal margin ; the whole of them attached 

 to the edge of the operculum on one side only. 



GALEOMMA (Daudin). This shell is found in 

 the British Channel, and one species described by 

 Turton. It is equivalve, inequilateral, transverse, 

 with the front margin gaping in an oval form ; the 

 hincfo without teeth, and the ligament internal. 



GALEOPITHECUS Flying cat. A genus of 

 Cuvier's order Carnassicr, and the division Cheiroptera 

 of that order, which division comprises only the 

 present genus or family, and the fur more numerous 

 one of the bats. The epithet " flying- cat," as applied 

 to these animals is of course absurd, and so is "flying 

 lemur," which has also been given to them. 



As little can these animals be classed as having 

 much resemblance to the bats, cither in their external 

 structure or in the form and arrangement of their 

 teeth. In the bats, the toes of the fore feet are very 

 much produced ; the flying membrane is expanded 

 on them, and there are large pectoral muscles which 

 give them motion in the air, very inferior to that of a 

 bird, no doubt, but still bearing a slight resemblance 

 to it. In the animals of the present genus, on the 

 other hand, the toes of the fore feet are not more 

 produced than those of the hind ones ; the membranes 

 are not proprely flying membranes, and there are no 

 pectoral muscles by means of which the animals can 

 take a stroke in the air so as to have continuous 

 flight. In bats, though the flying membrane is often 

 so far continued on the upper part of the hind legs, 

 the hind feet are always free ; but in the genus 

 galeopithecus, the hind feet are as much connected 

 with the membrane as the fore ones, and the intervals 

 of the toes are webbed by a continuation ol similar 

 membrane. In the anterior part of the membrane 

 there is also considerable difference. The head is 

 always free in the bats, and so is the greater part of 

 the neck. But in the present genus, the membrane 

 extends as far forward on both sides of the head as 

 the jaw, or even the gape. There is thus absolutely 

 too much of the membrane for the purposes of flight- 

 the animals are so entangled in it that they cannot 

 by possibility fly, or take one stroke in the air with 

 the membranes. They are thus not flying animals at 

 all ; and the membranes can answer no other purpose 

 than that of a parachute to bring them up when they 

 leap farther than their weight could otherwise be 

 supported. Their whole motion cannot, however, be 

 derived from the leap, which is at first taken from a 

 solid point of support, and they can gain no new 

 impetus till they alight on a second support and leap 

 again. 



From the way in which they are entangled in the 

 membrane, it is also obvious that, while it is extended 

 they can make no use of any part of their bodies 

 farther than merely opening and shutting the 

 mouth. 



Any one who is in the least acquainted with the 

 principles of animal mechanics, must at once see al 

 this. There is no wing, or fin, or foot, or any other organ 

 for motion of any animal, which has bones attachec 

 to pieces of the skeleton, or of the membranes to 

 which the organs of motion are articulated at a dis- 

 tance from each other. There may be many bone: 

 from different parts of the body to support the point 

 to which the organ of motion is articulated, some very 

 fine, instances of which will be found noticed in the 

 article BIRD, and there may be any number anc 



arrangement of the bones in the moving part, further 

 away from the body than this point. But the 

 primary articulation of the organ, is always one single 

 attachment, and the proximal part of it a single bone ; 

 and if the motion is to be a powerful one, the head 

 of that bone is always a trocltanter, and the joint a 

 single ball and socket joint. There is no exception 

 to this in any one organ of motion in the whole 

 animal kingdom in cases where the organs are sup- 

 ported by bones, which is the case in all the verte- 

 brated animals ; and it would be just as impossible 

 for an animal to move with its fore and hind legs 

 tied together with natural membranes, as if they were 

 tied with ropes. In the case of the bats, the hind 

 legs have no motion in flight ; for the whole of the 

 flying membrane is put in motion on the shoulder- 

 joint, and the only use of the hind leg in those 

 which have the membrane extended to it, is to act as 

 a point of support and rest. As little could these 

 animals use the neck, by bending it in any one way 

 which the membranes are stretched ; for these brace 

 it with equal firmness on both sides, and hold it tightly 

 in the same position, just as the shrouds on the two 

 sides hold the mast of a vessel. Every animal which 

 can really fly, that is, which can take a new impulse 

 from the air as a fulcrum, has its head, and its feet, 

 if it has feet in addition to the organs of flight, which 

 is generally the case, free when it flies, otherwise it 

 would be helpless and imperfect. The same observa- 

 tions which have now been made apply to what are 

 called flying squirrels, to the marsupial animals of 

 Australia which have extended membranes, and to 

 every animal which stretches a membrane by mean* 

 of two feet on each side. Not one of them can fly ; 

 and therefore the application of the epithet flying to 

 them is improper, as tending to mislead the ignorant. 



The teeth of the Galeopitheci, are as peculiar as 

 their membranes, their mouths being the most com- 

 pletely insectivorous of any in the whole class of 

 mammalia. Their cheek teeth are all tuberculated 

 in their crowns. Their canine teeth are no higher 

 than the cheek teeth, and they are tuberculated. 

 They have two front teeth in the upper jaw, which 

 are also tuberculated ; and they have six fore teeth 

 in the under jaw which are formed something like 

 combs. 



These animals are found only in the islands on 

 the south-east of Asia, where they inhabit trees, and 

 arc rarely, if ever found on the ground. One prin- 

 cipal part of their food is insects, of which, from the 

 structure of their teeth there can be little doubt ; 

 another is said to be the leaves of the forest trees ; 

 and in the case of the succulent ones, this is by no 

 means unlikely. It is, however, added by some de- 

 scribers that they eat birds ; but this is by no means 

 so probable, we are not acquainted with any bird- 

 eating mammalia, which have not canine teeth adapted 

 for wounding, and also something in a more rearward 

 part of the jaw which may be considered as a carni- 

 vorous tooth, of some kind or other. 



These animals have five toes on each of the feet; 

 the fore and hind feet are formed very like each 

 other ; and all the toes are articulated in the same 

 plane, so that none of them acts against the other, or 

 has the least resemblance to a thumb. The feet are 

 turned laterally, and by no means adapted for walk- 

 ing ; and, as is the case with the sloths, their most 

 powerful action is inwards, especially of the hind 

 feet. They can hang suspended by these feet to a 



