450 Scientific Proceedings, Roijal Dublin Society. 



Lung hj the right leg, and bending the left forward, on this the 

 free leg of the young was forthwith hooked. This evidently assisted 

 the mother materially in its exclusion, as she gently raised the l ent 

 leg during the active periods of labour pains, thereby drawing the 

 young one upwards. At 12.30 the other leg was free, and imme- 

 diately both legs grasped the mother. At 12.35 it was completely ex- 

 cluded, the back of the head to the front, so that at once it clung round 

 the mother with wings and legs. The latter licked it all over, and con- 

 tinued to do so for half an hour. The ears of the young bat were all 

 this time folded flat on the head. The eyes were closed. The mother 

 then began to bite at the umbilical cord by which it was still at- 

 tached, resting at times as if exhausted. She continued this until 

 half-past one, biting away small portions. At 3 p. m. the young 

 was still attached by the umbilical cord, but was apparently suck- 

 ing the mother. I was unable to observe anything further until 

 10 p.m., .when on looking at the bat I saw that the placenta had 

 just come away and was being eaten by the mother, who let no- 

 thing fall. 



Mr. Maynard, who examined the bats, stated that they were a 

 variety hitherto undescribed. There were six of the young bats 

 alive, and I had them fed with milk, which they sucked from the 

 finger. However, they all died. On Wednesday, 4th June, the bat 

 whose birth I had observed died. It was evidently trying to obtain 

 nourishment from the mother, but was unable to 'do so. Some- 

 times it seized the mother's wing — sometimes close to the vent. 

 The mother seemed unable to place it on the teat ; indeed, it 

 grasped so tightly and with such pertinacity that the mother could 

 not move it from any position in which it chose to place itself. 

 On one occasion it seized the mother's ear, and there it remained 

 for an hour. After its death the mother adopted one of the other 

 young ones, but it died also. I examined the mother most care- 

 fully, but could not find a vestige of a teat anywhere. She is still 

 alive, and eats sapodillo pears greedily. The head of the young is 

 singularly like a pig. I have preserved a couple in spirits, which 

 I shall forward to the Science and Art Museum, Dublin. 



So far as I know, the bat is the only mammal produced with 

 the hind feet first presented. The manner of its birth is a singu- 

 larly interesting illustration of the modifications effected by Nature 

 to meet peculiar conditions. 



