Order CHIROPTERA. 



Volant mammals, having their fore limbs specially modified for 

 flight. The forearm consists of a rudimentary ulna, a long curved 

 radius, and a carpus of six bones supporting a thumb and four 

 greatly elongated fiugers, between which, the sides of the body, 

 and the hinder extremities a thin expansion of the integument 

 (the iving-membrane) is spread out. The knee is directed back- 

 wards, owing to the rotation of the hind limb outward by the 

 wing-membrane ; a peculiar elongated cartilaginous process (the 

 C(dccmenm), rarely rudimentary or absent, arising from the inner 

 side of the ankle-joint, is directed inwards and supports part of 



Fig. 72. — Skeleton and Volar Membranes of the Noctule ( Vesperugo noctula), 

 half nat. size. (Flower, Art. Mammalia, ' Eneyclopsedia Britannica.') 



c, clavicle; h., humerus ; r., radius ; u., ulna (rudimentary) ; d.', first digit or 

 poUex ; d.'^, d.^, d^, d.^, other digits supporting iv.ni., the wing-membrane ; 

 m., m., metacarpal bones ; ph.^, ph.-,ph}, first, second, and tliird phalanx of 

 third digit; am., antebrachial membrane; /., femur ; i^., tibia; /., fibula 

 (rudimentary); c, calcaneura or calcar supporting 2'.Wi., the interfemoral 

 membrans; pel., post-calcaneal lobe. 



the posterior margin of an accessory membrane of flight, extending 

 from the tail or posterior extremity of the body to the hinder 

 limbs (the interfemond membrane). The penis is pendent, the 



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