FLYING DOGS, OR FRUIT-EATING BATS. 



79 



weather lasts they remain in their pendant attitude, 

 but on the warmer winter days some species awake 

 and fly about even in snow and thawing weather. 



All Bats carry their young ones around with them 

 when they fly, even when the little ones can use 

 their wings fairly well and are able to temporarily 



CTc 



fc. 



PIFISTRELLE BAT. Out in the night in the light of the stars 



the little Pipistrelle busily flies, looking for such tiny insects as Gnats, 

 Midges and other two-winged Flies, which form its food. This animal is 

 found all over the British islands, temperate Europe and central Asia, and 

 is of great usefulness in ridding those countries of the numerous little insect 

 pests. ( Vesperugo pipistrelliis.) 



leave their mother's breast. I have myself found 

 young Bats hanging alone on trees in the virgin 

 African forests. The young ones reach their full 

 growth in from five to six weeks. 

 Strange Appear- The strange appearance and noctur- 

 ance and Noctur- nal habits of the Bats have, since the 



nal Habits. oldest times, given ample food for 

 superstition, and the harmless animals still have to 

 contend with the prejudice and antipathy of a large 

 majority of people. We will not repeat the innu- 

 merable stories that have been told, many of which 

 are still believed ; but we wish to emphasize the 

 claims of the Bats to consideration and good treat- 

 ment. In our temperate climes they are all very 

 useful, for they devour with great greed immense 

 swarms of harmful insects. The few frugivorous 

 Bats do not concern us in the least, neither do the 

 blood-sucking Vampires, which latter, by the way, 

 are not nearly so dangerous as they were once sup- 

 posed to be. We may consider the whole class as a 

 highly useful link in the chain of beings. 



But Few The number of prehistoric Bats that 

 Prehistoric has come to our knowledge is exceed- 

 Bats. ingly small. Hair from these animals 



has been found in amber, and their petrified bones 

 in stone quarries. There are about three hundred 

 different species now living. The infinitely great 

 differences in shape, in spite of superficial resem- 

 blance, render classification difficult, even for natu- 

 ralists. 



fiyiiiQ Docs, or Jfruit^jeating Bats. 



FIRST DIVISION : Pteropina. 



The first grand division of the Bat family is 

 formed by the Flying Dogs or Fruit-eating Bats, 

 which may be again subdivided into two distinct 

 groups, the first being the Flying Dogs proper 

 (Pteropus), and the second group including the 

 Night- Dogs (Cyitoiiycteris). 



All members of this family of Bats are found in 

 the warmer countries of the Old World, especially 

 in southern Asia, central and south Africa and 

 Australia. Their large size is foundation for the 

 many foolish talcs which make of them living mon- 

 sters. These harmless, good-natured animals have 

 actually borne the reputation of being formidable 

 Vampires, and people thought they saw in them 

 those hideous creations of the imagination which 

 attach themselves to sleeping human beings and 

 suck their heart's blood. 



Fruit-eaters have, in the main, a Bat-like shape, 

 but their size is much larger than that of other 

 members, and their head is that of a good-look- 

 ing, sympathetic Dog or Fox ; this having earned 

 for them the name of Flying Dogs or Flying Foxes. 

 The membrane, and consequently also the formation 

 of the arms and legs, is similar to that of the other 

 Bats ; only that besides the thumb the index finger 

 has a claw-shaped nail. The nose has no appen- 

 dage, and the ears never show a flap. They are 

 easily distinguished by their peculiarities from the 

 remainder of the Bats. 



DAUBENTON'S BAT. A tiny creature, but two inches long. It 



haunts church towers and other buildings in central Europe, and is 

 always to be found near rivers and other bodies of water, where it easiest 

 finds food at the gloaming and far into the night. As the artist repre- 

 sents it, it is an odd-looking and unhandsome animal, but useful because 

 it destroys hurtful insects. (Vespertili daubentonii.) 



Flying Dogs prefer dark woods for their haunts, 

 and by day tenant the trees in large numbers, hang- 

 ing in innumerable rows, wrapped up in their wings 



