145 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SENSES IN BATS. 



(plate XIV.) 



ARTHUR WHITAKER, 



]\'nrsbi-ouf;h Bridge, Barnsley. 



Probably the personal acquaintance of man)- of the readers of 

 the ' Naturalist ' with bats is no greater than has been afforded 

 by occasional g^limpses of these creatures flitting about at dusk 

 of a summer's day, and a few notes on them when under closer 

 observation may consequently be of some interest. 



Bats are highly developed animals, so much so that Linnaeus 

 was led to give them a place in his highest order of the 

 Mammalia, the Primates, along with Man and the Apes ; nor is 

 their position very materially altered in our present classification, 

 though they are now ranked as the first sub-order of the second 

 great order Carnaria, instead of the last sub-order of the first 

 order Primates. 



Classification is principally based on physical structure, but 

 broadly speaking as the scale of animal life is ascended, we 

 find a gradual development of mind and senses, as well as 

 a structural development. 



It is, then, a subject worthy of attention to try to ascertain 

 if bats exhibit that development of the senses which their high 

 position in the scale of animal life would lead us to expect. 



Before trying to estimate the development of any animal, 

 we should try to dispossess our mind of the idea that every 

 physical and mental power is highly developed or otherwise just 

 in proportion to its approximation to our own. 



As the focus of the eye must be proportionate to the size of 

 a creature, so must its other senses and mental powers be of 

 that * focus ' which will be most useful to their possessor. 

 Milton's words apply not only to man, but to all creatures : — 



' Not to know at large of thing-s remote from use, obscure and 

 subtle, 

 Rut to know that which before us lies in daily life, 

 Is the prime wisdom.' 



Thus we should not call a dog more intelligent than a sheep 

 merely because it understands a few words which we may say to 

 it. The mountain sheep knows what the weather will be for 

 many hoiu's in advance, and ability in one direction must be set 

 against ability in another. Nor is the sight of a cheese mite 

 better than your sight or mine, although it can see its fellow. It 



1906 May I. 



