292 GENERAL ZOOLOGY 



out touching anything. Young bats cling to their mother 

 and are carried about until able to take care of themselves. 



Bats usually sleep during the day, suspended in some 

 tree, cave, or belfry, and come out at night to seek food. 

 The common bats in the United States are all insectivorous, 

 but certain large, tropical species live on fruit and, in South 

 America, the vampires bite sleeping animals and feed on 

 their blood. 



Order 6. Carnivora. The carnivores may be terres- 

 trial, arboreal or aquatic in their habits, but all have sharp 

 teeth with prominent canines, and poorly developed 

 clavicles. This order contains many animals of great 

 interest to man cats, dogs, fur-bearers, etc. It is usually 

 subdivided into two suborders: (1) Fissipedia, including 

 chiefly terrestrial carnivores; and (2) Pinnipedia, to which 

 the seals, walruses, and sea-lions belong. There are a 

 number of important families of carnivores in North 

 America. The Canidce walk on their toes (digitigrade) 

 and have non-retractile claws. The dogs, foxes, wolves, 

 and coyotes belong to this family. The raccoons (Pro- 

 cyonidce) and bears (Ursidce) walk on the entire foot 

 (i.e., are plantigrade). The martens (Mustelidce) are 

 widespread in North America; the forty-six species includ- 

 ing the mink, weasel, marten, wolverine, skunk, badger, 

 and otter. Many aTe greatly valued for their fur. The 

 family Felidce contains the carnivores with retractile 

 claws cat, puma, leopard, tiger, jaguar, etc. The aquatic 

 carnivores (Pinnipedia) are greatly modified structurally 

 for life in the water. The eared seals (Otariidce), walruses 

 (Odobcenidce) , and the earless seals (Phocidce) all have 

 representatives on the shores of America. 



Order 7. Rodentia. Rodents possess strong incisor 

 teeth fitted for gnawing and lack canines. They are usually 

 of small or of moderate size, the jack-rabbit and beaver 

 being among the largest known. In number of species 

 this is the largest order of mammals, over fourteen hundred 

 being included. Important representatives in North 



