OKDEK III. CIIEIROPTERA. '37 



man;- pnrtieiilars, yet bearing a rcscmhlancc sufficiently common to make 

 the name JJut an appropriate designation for the ^vliole. 



BATS. 



Bats are the last of the Mammalia that nurse their young at the hreast. 

 Their strong, broad wings enable them to fly with great rapidity, and to a 

 eonsiderable height, although in tiiis last particular they cannot equal the 

 Birds. The thumb is short, and armed with a crooked nail, by whicii they 

 creep along, and cling to the braueiies of trees, walls, chimneys, &c. 

 Their hinder parts are weak, and divided into five toes, nearly equal in 

 length, which arc furnished with sharji, trenchant nails. Their eyes arc 

 very small, but their large ear's and wings present a membranous surface of 

 extraordinary extent, and of so sensitive a nature as to enable the bats to 

 avoid obstructions in their most rajiid flights through their dark retreats. 

 By this peculiar endowment they are warned when they are approaching 

 any foreign body, even though deprived of sight. 



They are nocturnal animals, seeking their food in the morning and even- 

 ing t'wilight, when they are very lively, flitting among the trees, or skim- 

 ming along the fields, in pursuit of insects, which they capture with the 

 utmost dexterity. In cold climates, during the winter, wiicn food cannot 

 be procured, they remain in a torpid state ; but in the tropical regions, and 

 milder climates of the south, they are active in all seasons. During the 

 day they hide themselves, suspended by their claws, in hollow trees, barns, 

 old chimneys, walls, and caves. They are gregarious in their habits, but 

 have this remarkable peculiarity, that the diflercnt species will not associate, 

 nor do the males and females congregate together, nor the young, after tiiey 

 can take care of themselves, with their elders. Disagreeable as they arc, 

 and universally regarded with disgust, j-ct they are entitled to the gratitude 

 of man for the destructive war they wage on many insect tribes which are 

 injurious to vegctati(jn. In size they vary from that of a small mouse to 

 an animal whose expanded wings are nearly six feet in extent. !So far as 

 known, they appear to be entirely governed by instinct, exhibiting none of 

 those reasoning powers so consp)icuous in the Quadrumanous tribes, and also 

 in many of those that are ranged after them. 



The species are so numerous and complicated, and ofler so little of special 

 interest, we shall confine our observations to the most remarkable of them. 



Genus PxEiiorus — The Iloussetts, or Gholes. These animals belong 

 to the family HarpyidaJ, or Frugivorous Bats. They are larger than the 

 Insect-eating Bats, and are the harpies of the old mythology, and possess gen- 

 erally all the characters we have described above. They inhabit the south 

 of Asia, the Moluccas, and Isles of Suuda, and also Africa, Madagascar, 



