THE HOARY BAT. 



C. C. M. 



ftVERY singular animal is the bat, 

 and seems to belong to several 

 classes and orders. The speci- 

 men we present here {Atalapha 

 cinerea) is very rare in this part of the 

 country, and was taken in Lincoln Park, 

 Chicago. It flies through the air like 

 a bird and, possessing mammae like the 

 quadrupeds, suckles its young. The 

 double jaw is provided with three 

 kinds of teeth. With the canines and 

 incisors it tears its prey like carnivo- 

 rous animals, and with the molars or 

 grinders it cracks nuts like rodents, 

 which it resembles in the narrow, oval 

 form of its head. An imperfect quad- 

 ruped when on the ground, it drags 

 itself along, embarrassed by the mantle 

 of its wings, which fold up around its 

 legs like an umbrella when closed. 

 When it undertakes to fly it does so in 

 an awkward manner. It first crawls 

 painfully along, and with great diffi- 

 culty extends its long fingers, spread- 

 ing out the membrane which covers 

 and binds them together. The un- 

 gainly creature then quickly flaps its 

 broad wings, tough as leather, but thin 

 and transparent; a bird without plum- 

 age, it now flies abroad in pursuit of 

 insects — nocturnal like itself — or in 

 search of ripe fruit, to which some spe- 

 cies are particularly destructive. 



None of the bats like to raise them- 

 selves into the air from a perfectly level 

 surface, and, therefore, use all their 

 endeavors to climb to some elevated 

 spot, from whence they may launch 

 themselves into the air. They climb 

 with great ease and rapidity, being able 

 to hitch their sharp and curved claws 

 into the least roughness that may pre- 

 sent itself, and can thus ascend a per- 

 pendicular wall with perfect ease and 

 security. In so doing they crawl back- 

 ward, raising their bodies against the 

 tree or wall which they desire to scale, 

 and drawing themselves up by the 

 alternate use of the hinder feet. When 

 they have attained a moderate height, 

 they are able to fling themselves easily 

 into the air and to take immediate 

 flight. They have the power of rising 

 at once from the ground, but always 



prefer to let themselves fall from some 

 elevated spot. One reason why bats 

 take their repose suspended by their 

 hind feet is said to be that they are 

 then in the most favorable position for 

 taking to the air. There may be, and 

 probably are, other reasons for the 

 curious reversed attitude. Even among 

 the birds examples are found of a sim- 

 ilar mode of repose. Members of the 

 genus Colius, an African group of birds, 

 sleep suspended like the bats, clinging 

 with their feet and hanging with their 

 heads downward. But these birds can- 

 not assume this attitude for the pur- 

 pose of taking flight, as their wings are 

 ' used as readily as those of most other 

 feathered creatures, and, therefore, 

 there must be other reasons to account 

 for the strange attitude. 



The more closely we approach the 

 torrid zone, it is said, the greater is the 

 number of bats and the richer their 

 variety. The South is the native coun- 

 try of the majority of wing-handed 

 animals. Even in Italy, Greece, and 

 Spain, the number of bats is surprising. 

 There, according to Brehm, who studied 

 them industriously, as evening draws 

 nigh they come out of their nooks and 

 corners not by hundreds but by thou- 

 sands. Out of every house, every old 

 stone wall, every rocky hollow they 

 flutter, as if a great army were preparing 

 for a parade, and the entire horizon is 

 literally filled with them. The swarms 

 of bats one sees in a hot country are 

 astonishing. They darken the sky. 

 Everywhere there is a living and mov- 

 ing mass flying through the trees or 

 gardens and groves. Through the 

 streets of the town, through houses and 

 rooms flits the moving train. Hun- 

 dreds are constantly appearing and dis- 

 appearing and one is always sur- 

 rounded by a hovering swarm. 



A feature of the wings of bats, is a 

 highly elastic skin. The outer layer is 

 constantly kept pliable by anointing 

 with an oily liquid, secreted by glands 

 in the animal's face. The structure of 

 the hair is also remarkable, as each 

 thread presents under the microscope 

 a screw-like appearance. 



167 



