82 BATS 



blind as a Bat/ for all species possess very efficient eyes, 

 though they are small and almost hidden in the soft fur. 

 For the size of the animal the mouth is rather large, with a 

 full complement of sharp teeth. In all cases the ears are 

 large, but in some Bats they develop into an expansive 

 membrane that can be folded up very much in the same 

 manner as the wings. Not a few species have remarkable 

 membraneous appendages on the nose, sometimes quite 

 complex in construction, giving the Bat an extraordinary 

 appearance. It is supposed that the ear and nose organs are 

 of more utility than merely to catch sound and to smell, and 

 that they are intimately related to the animal's remarkable 

 sense of touch, which is carried to a degree of delicacy quite 

 unknown in other creatures. The ear and nose and wing 

 membranes are little less than a mass of blood-vessels and 

 the finest nerves, affording a sensitive surface that assists the 

 Bat to perceive the nearness of objects. 



It is well known that the Bat can perform the most rapid 

 and baffling movements in the dark among buildings and 

 trees, even going to the length of wheeling and doubling 

 through the branches. Spallanzini, about the year 1775, 

 tested the extreme sensitiveness of the exposed membranes 

 and their ability to sense objects without utilising sight or 

 actual contact. He sealed up the Bats' eyes, temporarily 

 blinding them, and then set them free in a chamber in 

 which were suspended dangling strings and cloths per- 

 forated with holes large enough to permit a Bat to pass 

 through. In their flight they avoided all these obstacles, 

 passing through the holes, turning corners, and finding 

 crannies for concealment or escape. They gave abundant 

 proof that the eyes render quite unimportant assistance in 

 the creature's nocturnal evolutions. The closing of the ears 

 seemed to be felt more than the loss of sight, though it 

 never amounted to embarrassment. Altogether the experi- 

 ments practically proved that the Bat is possessed of powers 

 that almost, if not quite, amount to a sixth sense. 



Bats are distributed over nearly all the world, being 

 completely absent only in the coldest regions. They are 

 most numerous and attain their greatest size in the Eastern 

 tropics. A few species live chiefly in pairs, but more 



