2130 The Zoologist — May, 1870. 



flower of the gum tree, &c. They are most clumsy eaters, destroying 

 far more fruit than they " put away." It is amusing to hear the fruit 

 growers persist in declaring that the foxes do this wilfully, from malice 

 prepense, from the evilness of their hearts, whereas to us it appears to 

 be rather the result of laziness than of diabolical mischief. Certain 

 it is that the morning after they have visited an orchard large 

 quantities of nibbled fruit are found all over the ground. Hanging by 

 his hind legs, the flying fox takes hold of a pear or a peach with his 

 claws, and as long as he can comfortably reach the fruit, so long does 

 he munch away, through stalk and all, when of course the pear at 

 once proves the law of gravitation to any Newton chancing to be near, 

 and the bat lazily crawls ofl" to another. It is possible, though not 

 proved, that the bat on losing his dainty morsel makes use of bat-like 

 naughty language ; at all events, he tries to solace himself by swinging 

 or crawling ofl" to the next fruit within reach, of which the better part 

 is attain soon on the ground. They have been known to carry fruit to 

 a great distance in its whole state, besides the pulp which they 

 concoct in an internal receptacle and give on their return home to 

 their wives and children. 



During the day the Pteropi sleep suspended by their hind legs from 

 tall trees. In India they usually select some species of Ficus, and 

 may be seen covering the branches of several consecutive trees, which 

 are soon stripped of all their leaves. The effect is very curious when 

 the bats are in such numbers ; the trees from a distance look as if they 

 were clothed in black foliage, large hanging dark leaves pendant along 

 every branch, but which, on a nearer approach, prove to be these 

 sleeping bats. They are fond of home, keeping steadily to the same 

 trees for years, if not hunted away. It is interesting to watch them 

 waking up in the evening. Towards sundown, one or two of them 

 begin to stir; one wing begins slowly and by degrees to unfold itself; 

 then a second wing is gradually extended. A chattering, squeaking, 

 murmuring waking-up becomes general ; one by one they commence 

 crawling about, then fight a bit to raise their dormant faculties, and 

 after trying their flying powers round and round the trees, at last, fully 

 awake and alive to the duties of the night, they make off" to their 

 various feeding-grounds. 



All these bats hang to the branches by the claws of their hind legs, 

 and they possess another useful member in the hook, which appears 

 to be attached to the shoulder of the wing, but which really answers 

 to our thumb, and which is their great stay when climbing or feeding. 



