BATS. 101 



the elbow the secondary quills are merely glued 

 or stuck at the veiy ends to the arm bone, the 

 ulna. The thumb appears as a hook in some 

 birds ; in others it has an outgrowth of a short 

 quill, " a spurious primary." Now the wing of 

 a bat is arranged on a fore leg or a fore arm, 

 but on a different plan from the bird. The five 

 fingers are very long, and between them is 

 stretched a most delicate membrane, that ex- 

 tends backward around the body from both 

 sides of it, and takes in the hinder legs and tail 

 in all insect-eating bats. Fruit-eating bats, in 

 some instances, do not have the wings extend- 

 ing backward to the tail. 



There is no other animal with such an ar- 

 rangement for flight. In the far East there is a 

 tree-frog with very long toes on all four feet, 

 and these, being webbed, are used not for swim- 

 ming, nor properly for flying, but as aids to 

 jumping, like our so-called flying-squirrel. 

 When this frog desires to jump from one tree 

 to another within range, he makes the leap, 

 spreads his legs and toes, and glides forward 

 and downward ; but this is not true flying. 

 Our bat is an expert on the wing ; no bird is 

 quite his equal when it comes to short turns, as 

 any one knows who has tried to bring one down 

 in a room. The wings are richly supplied with 



