ORDER CARNARIA. FAMILY Chqffoptera. 



BATS. 



When the situation of an animal in a classification was decided 

 by a fanciful comparison of its exterior and general appearance 

 to that of other creatures, or at best by a hasty and unscientific 

 inspection of it, the bat gave rise to much discussion respecting 

 the place that ought to be assigned to it. Pliny, Gesner, and 

 many other writers placed it among the birds, merely because it 

 flies through the air. But this class could but ill contain an 

 animal which has neither feathers, beak, nor gizzard, builds no 

 nest, and lays no eggs. What are called the bat's wings, which 

 led to this improper idea of its nature, are nothing more than a 

 large, expansive, and collapsive membrane connecting its long, 

 thin fingers, and united to the body of the animal, whose hind- 

 feet are quite unconnected with the membrane, and possess five 

 toes, furnished with claws. The aerial motion of the bat can 

 hardly be called flying, but is better described by the word flut- 

 tering, and hence its name of flutter or flitter-mouse. 



The bat's thin and delicate membranes possess great sensibility 

 the slightest diversity of temperature at different distances from 

 surrounding objects, and this faculty probably forewarns it of, 

 and protects it from encountering, any objects which otherwise 

 might prove obstructions to it, during its rapid and apparently 

 careless evolutions. The air that surrounds a body warmer than 

 the prevailing temperature of the great mass of air, will partake 

 of that warmth, while if it surrounds a cold body it will become 

 cold 5 and these changes of temperature, slight as they are, 

 seem to be readily felt by the sensitive membrane of the bat, 

 which, profiting from the hint, steers a middle course. The 



