282 BATS. 



when it cau use both its claws, teeth, and prehensile tail to aid its movements. 

 The bat, on the other hand, had to seek its living in the empty air, pureuing its 

 prej' with the swiftness of a swallow, " and it seemed wonderful to me," writes 

 Mr. Hudson, " that she should have been able to carry about that great burden 

 with her on one pair of wings, and withal to be active enough to supply hei-self 

 and her yomig with food In the end I released her, and saw her fly away 

 among the trees, after which I put back the two J'oung bats in the place I 

 had taken them from, among the thick-clustering foliage of a small acacia tree. 

 When set free they began to work their way upwards through the leaves and 

 slender twigs in the most adroit manner, catching a twig with their teeth, then 

 embracing a whole cluster of leaves with their wings, just as a person would take 

 up a quantity of loose clothes and hold them tighth^ by pressing them against the 

 chest. The body would then emerge above the cla.sped leaves, and a liigher twig 

 would be caught by the teeth, and so on successively, until they had got as high as 

 they wished, when they proceeded to hook themselves to a twig and assume the 

 inverted position side by side : after which, one drew in its head and Avent to sleep, 

 while the other began licking the end of its wing, where my finger and thumb had 

 pressed the delicate membrane. Later in the daj' I attempted to feed them with 

 some small insects, but they rejected my friendly attentions in the most unmis- 

 takable manner, snapping viciously at me every time I approached them. In the 

 evening I stationed myself close to the tree, and presently had the satisfaction of 

 seeing the mother return, flying straight to the spot where I had taken her, and in 

 a few minutes she was awaj- again and over the trees with her twins." 



As the nari-ator well remarks, this incident is noteworthy not only as a touching 

 instance of parental aftection, but likewise for the circumstance that the young 

 bats, which up to the time of their capture had existed in a kind of parasitical 

 condition, when thrown upon the world were quite capable of taking care of them- 

 selves. In other Mammals born in a helpless state, the power of accommodating 

 themselves to new conditions, and the instinct of self-preservation, are acquired 

 graduall}', whereas in these j-oung bats they were assumed in a moment. 



The TrBE-X(xsED Bats. 



Genus Hurpyiocephulns. 



The production of the nostrils into a pair of tubes has already been noticed as 

 distinctive of a genus of fruit-bats (p. 259), and it is, to say the least, remarkable to 

 find the same feature reappearing in a less marked degree in a gi'oup of insectivor- 

 ous bats belonging to the Ve^pcrtilionidcv. These tube-nosed bats, constituting the 

 genus Harpyiocephalus, are restricted to Tibet, India, Cejdon, and the Malay 

 Archipelago, and Japan, where thej^ always inhabit hilly districts. They are 

 sufliciently distinguished at a glance from all the other insect-eating bats by their 

 divergent tube-like no.strils, of which the apertures are circular. It may, however, 

 he added that their teeth are 34 in number, of which there are on each side | 

 incisoi-s, a single canine, and 5 cheek-teeth. Moreover, the upper surface of the 

 membrane between the liind legs is characterised by its thick covering of hair. 



