Whitaker : The Development of the Senses in Bats. 149 



at one point where it had sprung slig-htly from the wall and 

 admitted a distinct current of air. Although it flew fairly 

 quickly, and kept passing" underneath the chairs, of which 

 there were over a dozen in the room, it never once, so far as I 

 could see by lying down to watch it, even touched anything with 

 the tip of its wings. An attempt on my part to catch it caused 

 it to fly up to the ceiling, and just below this it commenced 

 circling round and round rapidly, repeatedly dipping to pass 

 under a beam crossing the centre of the ceiling. I tried holding 

 a walking-stick perfectly still in its path, but it would swerve 

 suddenly when but a few inches from it. After fl,ying for over 

 twenty minutes it suddenly settled on a chain supporting one of 

 the weights on the gas chandelier, and that it could settle in 

 such a place is in itself a wonderful proof of the accuracy of 

 this ' s?econd sight." 



I stood on a chair and approached my hand very slowly in 

 order to catch it again, but when my hand was within about a 

 foot of it, it commenced to turn its head nervously and jerkily 

 from side to side (an action characteristic of a bat when dis- 

 turbed), and flew again before I could get hold of it. 



Eventually I was obliged to get out my butterfly net to 

 catch it, and even then had some little difficulty — and by the 

 way, netting bats indoors is decidedh' exciting, and apt to 

 become rather an expensive amusement, and one productive of 

 serious domestic disturbances should an ill-judged stroke sweep 

 half-a-hundredweight of best mixed crockery off" the mantel- 

 piece. 



When I caught my bat again I found the wax still adhering 

 properly and quite covering the eyes. Although the little fellow 

 had got on so well without the use of his eyesight, he never- 

 theless seemed glad when I removed the wax and he got it 

 back again, and I was amused to note how long he stood by the 

 side of the water pot in his cage, alternately dipping his face in 

 the water and scratching it. 



This experiment and many others which have been made 

 with similar result seem to indicate that in the deep caverns 

 and other pitch-dark places to which many kind of bats resort 

 for hiding, they are guided by some sense other than sight. 

 The opinion arrived at by Cuvier, and now generally accepted, 

 is that it is an abnormal development of the sense of touch, 

 based, I should be inclined to say, upon an almost incompre- 

 hensibly acute perception of atmospherical currents, vibrations, 

 and resistence, and residing, it is believed, in the delicate 



1906 May I. 



