ANIM M.S. 371 



since his application to the particular history of the aniiiifil 

 counterbalances the defect.' 



From Linnaeus we learn, that the female makes no nest for 

 her young, as most birds and quadrupeds are known to do. She 

 is barely content with the first hole she meets, where sticking 

 herself by her hooks against the sides of her apartment, she per- 

 mits her young to hang at the nipple, and in this manner to con- 

 tinue for the first or second day. When, after some time, tho 

 dam begins to grow hungry, and finds a necessity of stirring 

 abroad, she takes her little ones and sticks them to the wall, in 

 the manner she before hung herself j there they immoveably cling, 

 and patiently wait till her return. 



Thus far this animal seems closely allied to the quadruped 

 race. Its similitude to that of birds is less striking. As nature 

 has furnished birds with extremely strong pectoral muscles, to 

 move the wings, and direct their iiight, so has it also furnished 

 this animal. As birds also have their legs weak, and unfit for 

 the purposes of motion, the bat has its legs fashioned in the 

 same manner, and is never seen to walk, or, more properly speak- 

 ing, to push itself forward with its hind legs, but in cases of ex- 

 treme necessity. The toes of the fore legs, or, if we may use 

 the expression, its extremely long fingers, extend the web like a 

 membrane that lies between them ; and this, which is extremely 

 thin, serves to lift the little body into the air : in this manner, 

 by an unceasing percussion, much swifter than that of birds, 

 the animal continues, and directs its flight ; however, the great 

 labour required in flying, soon fatigues it ; for, unlike birds, 

 which continue for days together upon the wing, the bat is tired 

 in less than an hour, and then returns to its hole, satisfied with 

 its supply, to enjoy the darkness of its retreat. 



If we consider the bat as it is seen in our own country, we 

 shall find it a harmless inoffensive creature. It is true that it 

 now and then steals into a larder, and, like a mouse, commits its 

 petty thefts upon the fattest parts of the bacon. But this hap- 

 pens seldom ; the general tenor of its industry is employed in 

 pursuing insects that are much more noxious to us than itself 

 can possibly be : while its evening flight, and its unsteady wab- 

 bling motion, amuse the imagination, and add one figure more 

 to the pleasing group of animated nature. 



) Fauna Siiecica, p. 8. 



