THE CAROLINA BAT 



15: 



And now let us take a somewhat close look at our 

 chosen typical form, the Serotine, or Carolina bat. It has 

 a little rounded body about two and a half inches long, 

 covei-ed with a very soft fur, which Shakespeare calls 

 " wool " when enumerating the ingredients of Macbeth's 

 witches' cauldron. It has a small head with very small 

 eyes, but large ears. It has a slender tail, nearly two 

 inches long, and two pairs of limbs, extremely different 

 both in size and structure. Its legs are of but moderate 

 length, but disposed so singularly that the knees are 

 bent almost backward, like our elbows. 



Each leg ends in a foot with live toes, which are free 

 (not " webbed " like those of a duck), with live claws of 

 about the same size. 



The other pair of limbs, the arms, are elongated both 

 above and below the elbow, but the fingers are wonder- 

 fully long, and they are joined together to their tips by 

 skin, being " webbed " like the toes of a water-fowl. But 

 it is not only the fingers which are thus " webbed." A 

 large expanse of skin connects them with the sides of 

 the body, and with the legs as far as the ankles, and 

 does not ev^en stop there, but extends onward to the tail, 

 which is thus connected with the two legs. 



The large expanse of skin which unites the fingers 

 and extends to the sides of the body and legs is (with 

 its component bones, &c.) called '" the wing." The 

 part between the legs is termed the " interfemoral 

 membrane." 



If we look carefully we shall see that though the 

 four fingers of each hand are thus bound together 

 and support the wing membrane as the "ribs" of an 

 umbrella support its web, each thumb is nevertheless 

 free. Each thumb indeed stands out at a wide angle 

 and is furnished with a very long, strong, and hooked claw. 



