ORDER CARNA.SSIER. 95 



of the organs of locomotion corresponding uses, and uses 

 determined by necessary relations, is thus completed in the 

 bats by extremities of this description, which are ever inva- 

 riable in their forms. 



It is impossible to enter the subterraneous abodes of the 

 bats without being at first considerably affected by the odour 

 of their dung. It is generally gathered in considerable heaps 

 under the soil towards the centre of the spaces which they 

 occupy, and it is perfectly obvious from what quarter the 

 excrements proceed, namely, from the vault of the cavern. 



The mode in which the bats void their excrements is 

 somewhat singular. Their ordinary position, fastened as 

 they are by their hinder feet to the roof of their habitation, 

 is by no means favourable for such an operation. Therefore 

 it must be altered. The bat, accordingly, first sets one of 

 its paws at liberty, and strikes the vault with it repeatedly. 

 Its body put in motion by this means oscillates, and is 

 balanced on the five nails of the other foot, which form, by 

 their equality and parallelism a right line, like the axis of a 

 pair of hinges. When the bat has arrived at the highest 

 point of the curve which it is describing, it extends its arm 

 and seeks a resting point on which to fasten the nail which 

 terminates it, namely, that of the thumb of the anterior ex- 

 tremity. It is sometimes the body of a neighbouring bat 

 which serves for this purpose, a side wall, or some other 

 solid object. Having thus fixed the nail, the animal has 

 attained its end. It is placed in a horizontal position, 

 which is the one most suitable for its purpose. 



With respect to the organs of digestion in the cheiropte- 

 rous tribes, we here discover, in a remarkable manner, the 

 ascendant exercised by that type, from which the bats are 

 an obvious deduction. All the traits of the quadrumana 

 are reproduced, and what is more singular, with certain 

 slight modifications, all of which have a close relation with 

 certain trifling changes in the termination of the wing. 



