310 Wild Life in Wales 



nerves, while the power of feeling by means of the nerves 

 depends greatly on the amount of blood supplied to them. 

 This we all know by the numbness we can bring easily on 

 in any one of our fingers by tying a string tightly round its 

 root, which causes it, as we say, to c go to sleep, 7 a condition 

 occasioned by depriving its nerves of their due supply of 

 blood. The circulation of that fluid in man and beast is 

 brought about mainly by the rhythmical contractions of the 

 heart, while this is aided by the elasticity of the arteries, 

 which, though not themselves contractile, have a power, 

 through their elasticity, of propelling the blood which is not 

 possessed by the veins. 



" Now, it is a very remarkable fact that the veins in the 

 Bat's wing are positively contractile, thus serving in a most 

 exceptional manner to propel the blood, and so, indirectly, 

 augment such powers of sensation as the delicate membrane 

 of the Bat's wing may be supplied with." 



No one who has watched a Bat for long upon the wing 

 can have failed to be struck with its marvellous dexterity of 

 movement, whether in avoiding obstacles, or in securing its 

 insect prey. It never loses its head, and flutters round a 

 lamp, as insects and birds will do ; nor, when confined in a 

 room, will it dash itself in futile panic against the window- 

 pane. From the quotations just made, it is almost impos- 

 sible to doubt that the specially sensitive wing plays an 

 important part in enabling a Bat to avoid collision with glass, 

 or other objects that may beset its path ; but, nevertheless, 

 its perception of tiny insects, and their adroit capture, while 

 the Bat is passing at a rapid rate through the air, is sufficient 

 to demonstrate a very keen sense of vision, despite the 

 smallness of the eyes. My own observations would all lead 

 me to believe that any sense of touch that may be possessed 

 is far subservient to the powers of sight. It is quite sur- 

 prising at what a distance a Bat will perceive a fly upon the 

 water, and its quickness, in detecting an imitation, is scarcely 

 less extraordinary. The art of the fly-dresser, that suffices 

 to deceive the eye of the most suspicious trout, is useless 

 against a Bat, even although, as Kingsley once expressed it, 

 that art is raised to the extent of a " tenth power fraud." 



