BATS. 99 



dom. In the Mosaic law he is classed with 

 birds : " The stork and heron, the lapwing and 

 the bat," all unclean (Lev. 11: 19). But 

 bird he certainly is not, neither is he nearly 

 related to birds. The Arabs, a kindred people 

 to the Jews, call it Gessim-al-sheytan, meaning 

 "devil's bird." The Germans call it Fleder- 

 maus, or "flying mouse." Always a creature 

 of ill omen. Among the Greeks it was sacred 

 to Proserpine, the queen of hell. Among the 

 old Norse or Northmen it figures in their 

 literature as a messenger of the Goddess of 

 Darkness and Death. Painters always use the 

 wings of bats for the Devil and his imps, and 

 the wings of birds for angels, not that there 

 is any good reason for the choice, beyond the 

 general dislike of the bats. 



As a rule they are not only harmless but of 

 no small service to mankind, for they live on 

 insects, which they destroy in great numbers. 

 I say as a rule, for there are bats in South 

 America that alight on cattle and even sleeping 

 people, and bite till the blood starts, and fill 

 themselves with it. In the Islands of the East- 

 ern Ocean Java and Batavia there are 

 fruit-eating bats, looking not unlike foxes and 

 as large as a cat, with wings measuring four 

 feet from tip to tip. They are fond of bananas 



