26 BATS. 



experiments of Spallanzani proved that bats possess some such 

 faculty as that I am led to attribute to them j for, having 

 deprived some specimens of the use of their eyes, he found that 

 even then they flew about and avoided, with as much adroitness 

 as ever,, any objects which were placed in their way. 



Though it is usual for bats to fly only in the evenings, yet 

 they have been occasionally seen, and even shot flying in the 

 broad day ; and though they become torpid during the winter, 

 yet a mild evening occurring during that season, will summon 

 them forth to feast on the insects which it has also invited to 

 emerge from their lurking places. 



On the thumb of the fore-feet (or wings, as they are impro- 

 perly called) is a small toe or claw, by means of which they 

 can creep, and suspend themselves to the sides of walls, 

 caverns, the hollows of trees, &c. j their hind-feet are disengaged 

 from the membrane, and have five toes, almost always of equal 

 length, and armed with nails ; their eyes are very small : the 

 ears of some species are very much dilated. 



The flying membrane often serves as a cloak to envelope 

 the animal itself, or to keep the young warm and close to the 

 breast ; and the posterior portion of the membrane is bent 

 forward by the female, so as to form a kind of cradle to 

 receive her young as they enter into the world. They have 

 (according to most zoologists) generally two young ones at a 

 birth, which they keep attached to their teats, even when 

 flying, and whose size is considerable in proportion to that of 

 the mother. 



In Britain, seventeen species of bats are found, which, as 

 well as all the other European species, are strictly insectivorous. 



