HOW TO KNOW THE WILD ANIMALS 



By DOUGLAS ENGLISH, B.A., F.R.P.S. 

 Author of "Wee Tim'rous Beasties," " Beasties Courageous," etc 



THE BATS 



With Photosraphs by the Author 



IT was not without reason that mediaeval 

 artists, when faced with the necessity 

 of raising devils from their inner 

 consciousness, should have invested them 

 not only with the wings, but also with 

 the countenances of Bats. 



So far as facial beauty was concerned 

 it might have proved difficult to appraise 

 the claims to distinction of the various 

 Orders of animals ; to differentiate, for 

 example, from an aesthetic standpoint, 

 between a Squirrel, a Hedgehog, and a 

 Stoat. In the case of facial ugliness 

 there seems to have been no such diffi- 

 culty. Mediaeval artists accepted Bats 

 as the ne plus ultra, and their view was 

 adopted by artists of the Renaissance. 

 In Diirer's " Knight, Death, and Satan," 

 the countenance of the Fiend, though 

 of a somewhat composite character, ap- 

 pears to be modelled on that of a Bat of 

 the genus Megaderma ; while another 

 familiar mediaeval devil, who possesses 

 a pair of projecting tubular nostrils over 

 a grinning, thin-hpped mouth, reminds 

 one strongly of the genus Harpyia. 

 Both these genera of Bats may well have 

 come within the experience of medic'eval 

 travellers, and it is not unlikely that the 

 reminiscences of the latter may have 

 pointed morals or adorned tales, in which 

 the primal contrasts between " light " 

 and " darkness," and between " good " 

 and " ev^il," were regarded as synonymous. 

 As IngersoU puts it : " While the 

 graceful pinions of birds have been given 

 to angels of light, the leathery and angular 

 wings of the Bat have been used by 

 painters and sculptors to signalise the 

 forms of fiends." 



It must not be supposed, however, 

 that all Bats are hideous. Several of 



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the large fruit-eating Bats, those known 

 as " Fh'ing Foxes," for example, have 

 agreeable vulpine faces, while the majority 

 of our twelve British species may be 

 described as being, for Bats, passably 

 good-looking. 



The extreme of Bat ugliness is reached 

 in what are known as the Leaf-nosed Bats 

 {RhinolophidcF and PhyllostomatidcB) . and 

 is due in the main to an extraordinary 

 fleshy outgrowth surmounting and sur- 

 rounding their nostrils. This outgrowth, 

 though symmetrical about the centre 

 line of the face, presents remarkable 

 specific variations of pattern. In con- 

 junction with diminutive eyes, impish 

 ears, glandular protuberances on the 

 cheeks and muzzle, and a gaping bare- 

 toothed grin, it ensures an expression 

 of countenance for which " demoniacal " 

 is the only fitting term. The Phyllo- 

 stoinatidce (Vampires) are not represented 

 in this country, but we have two repre- 

 sentatives of the RhinolophidcE, who, 

 from the formation of their nose-leaves, 

 are known respectively as the Greater 

 and Lesser Horseshoe Bats. 



The function of the nose-leaf, of which 

 traces are to be found in certain Insecti- 

 vora, as well as in Bats belonging to 

 lamihes other than the two just mentioned, 

 is unknown. The old theor\' that it was 

 in some fashion a sense organ has been 

 materially weakened by recent investiga- 

 tions into its structure, while its superior 

 development in male Bats suggests thr.t 

 it may be nothing more than a sexual 

 adornment. Against this must be put 

 the fact that the " leaf-nosed " Bats 

 are the most highly organisetl of the 

 insect-eating, as opposed to the fruit- 

 eating members of the Order. They are 



