CARNARIA. CHEIROPTERA. 41 



the ground, or in the performance of a much cleverer 

 feat, the running nimbly up a perpendicular surface. 

 In walking, the wings being closed, " the animal 

 rests upon the wrist. The foot of one side is then 

 extended forward, and the thumb-nail is hooked into 

 the ground; the body is next raised by means of 

 the hinder foot, which has been placed partly under 

 the body, and thus thrown forward ; the other side 

 is next propelled in the same manner ; it is therefore 

 by a succession of these plunges that their progres- 

 sion on the ground is effected, which is sometimes 

 sufficiently rapid to deserve the name of running. 

 This action, it must be acknowledged, is but a 

 ludicrous attempt compared with the progression of 

 other quadrupeds, but it is sufficient for their wants ; 

 and it cannot be too strongly urged that the appa- 

 rently imperfect and abortive means of terrestrial 

 progression given to the Bat and the Sloth, are as 

 indicative of infinite wisdom as the power of the 

 Lion, or the fleetness of the Antelope, because it is 

 equally fitted to their requirements." * 



Notwithstanding their dissimilarity in appearance, 

 the elongation of the arm and hand, the number, 

 form, and position of the teeth, the situation of the 

 mammae, and other characters indicate their affinity 

 to the Quadrumana, so that they were not without 

 reason placed by Linnaeus in the same order as Man; 

 which he named Primates. 



Of the great foreign species, respecting which so 

 many idle tales have been related, we know very 

 * Bell's Brit. Quad. p. 6. 



