600 



CHYLIFEROUS SYSTEM. 



ferring evidently to the Quadrumanous type in 

 the structure of the teeth, and the latter to the 

 type of the insectivora. 



The tongue presents a peculiarity in the 

 genus Phyllostoma, which is worthy of being 

 particularly noted. It consists of a number 

 of wart-like elevations, so arranged as to form 

 a complete circular suctorial disk, when they 

 are brought into contact at their sides, which is 

 done by means of a set of muscular fibres, 

 having a tendon attached to each of the warts. 

 By means of this curious sucker, these bats 

 are enabled to suck the blood of animals and 

 the juice of succulent fruits. This power has 

 been attributed by mistake to some of the 

 genus Pteropus, merely because their tongue is 

 rough, and it was calculated that by means of 

 such a surface the skin may have been abraded. 



The stomach is no less indicative of the nature 

 of the aliment than the teeth ; offering, in the Pte- 

 ropus (fig. 287), a very striking affinity to that 



Fig. 287. 



of many true vegetable feeders in some remote 

 orders, and in Plecotus (Jig. 288), as complete 



Fig. 288. 



an identity with that of the carnivorous type. 

 In the former the oesophagus swells out before 

 it enters the general cavity, and that dilatation, 

 as Home observes, appears, from its structure, 

 to belong to the stomach. To the left of the 

 esophagus there are two dilatations, the far- 

 thest of which has a smooth surface and thin 

 coats ; the other is furnished with several deep 

 longitudinal rugae, some of which are con- 

 tinued from similar ones in the oesophagus. 

 Four of the rugae are continued towards the 

 pylorus, giving a direction to the food in that 

 course; about one-third of the stomach to- 

 wards the pyloric extremity is turned back 

 upon itself, and the pylorus is consequently 

 placed externally close to the entrance of the 

 oesophagus. At the pylorus is a very small 

 opening into the intestine, which when con- 

 tracted seems scarcely pervious to air. Such 

 is the complicated form of the stomach in the 

 frugivorous division ; whilst that of the insect- 

 feeders is as simple as possible, being only 

 divided into a cardiac and a pyloric portion 

 with scarcely the slightest contraction. The 

 intestines present a no less marked distinction. 

 In the Pteropus they are no less than seven 

 times the length of the body, whilst Vesper- 



tilio noctula offers the shortest proportional 

 length of the canal, it being only twice as long 

 as the body. The latter is also wholly devoid 

 of a ccecum. 



The organs of generation. The male organs 

 of the Bats bear a near relation to those of the 

 Quadrumana and of Man, in some striking 

 respects. The penis is pendulous, and the 

 proportions between the different organs are 

 not very dissimilar; but the testes do not 

 descend from the abdomen excepting during the 

 breeding season, when they are found on each 

 side of the anus, whilst the large epididymis is 

 seen just behind them, on each side of the 

 origin of the tail. The vesicula seminales are 

 of moderate size, and consist of two round 

 white sacs, which are perfectly simple, form- 

 ing each a single cavity with a secreting in- 

 ternal surface. They have a prostate gland, 

 which surrounds the whole circumference of 

 the urethra, and appears to be composed of 

 numerous small lobes. They have also Cow- 

 per's glands. The penis is very similar to that 

 of the other more highly organized forms, the 

 Quadrumana and Man. It is of moderate 

 size, pendulous, and supported by ligaments, 

 as in the other cases. There is a small bone 

 of the penis. The muscular portion of the 

 urethra is rather long. The glans is in some 

 species enlarged by a small process or button 

 on each side ; the urethra opens at the extreme 

 point. 



The female organs offer nothing very par- 

 ticular. The vulva is round, and exhibits a 

 slight appearance of a clitoris near its edge ; 

 the mouth of the uterus stands out into the 

 vagina. The uterus is two-horned and the 

 horns are very short. 



There are but two teats, which are placed 

 on the breast. The additional ones said to 

 exist in the groin of the Rhinolophi are most 

 probably ordinary cutaneous glands, as Kuhl 

 could discover no trace of mammary glands 

 beneath them. They were first discovered by 

 Montagu in this country, and by Geoffrey in 

 France. 



The Bats are among those animals in whom 

 we notice the remarkable phenomenon of Hy- 

 bernation, of which it is unnecessary to say 

 any thing here, as a distinct article is devoted 

 to the subject. (See HYBERNATION.) 



For the Bibliography see that of MAMMALIA. 

 (T. Bell.) 



CHYLIFEROUS SYSTEM (in Compa- 

 rative Anatomy) is that portion of the vascular 

 system of vertebrated animals which is destined 

 to convey the nutritious part of the food, or the 

 chyle, from the alimentary canal into the san- 

 guiferous vessels. The function of these chy- 

 liferous vessels appears to be performed by the 

 veins in the invertebrated classes, where the 

 white colour of the blood causes them to re- 

 semble more closely the lacteals or chyliferous 

 vessels of vertebrata. Several parts, however, 

 of the invertebrated animals have been taken 

 by anatomists for this lacteal system, as the 



