2816 Quadrupeds. 



eared bat, it immediately pulled it off and flew : he stopped up its ears with cotton, 

 but it soon freed itself of this. He then put into its ears a composition of turpentine 

 and wax : during the operation the animal showed a great deal of impatience, and 

 flew afterwards very imperfectly. He then poured liquid pomatum into the ears of a 

 bat which enjoyed its sight : it appeared to be much affected by this operation, but 

 when the substance was removed it took flight : its ears was again rilled and its eyes 

 taken out, but it flew then only in an irregular manner, without any certain or fixed 

 direction. The ears of a horse-shoe bat which had the use of its sight were filled with 

 tinder mixed with water: it was uneasy under the operation, and appeared afterwards 

 restless and stunned, but it flew tolerably well : on being blinded, it rushed with its 

 head against the ceiling, beat the willow-twigs with its wings, and made the air re- 

 sound with the strokes which it gave itself on the muzzle. This experiment was 

 repeated on other bats with the like effect. The tympanum of a large horse-shoe bat 

 was pierced with a pin : the animal suffered much from the operation, and fell down 

 in a perpendicular direction when thrown into the air : it died next morning. The 

 same result was produced on piercing the tympanum of a long-eared bat with a 

 needle. M. de Jurine then made accurate researches on the difference between the 

 organization of the brain of these two kinds of bat, and found, after a careful dissec- 

 tion, that the eye of the long-eared bat is much larger than that of the horse-shoe bat, 

 but that the optic nerve is proportioned to it. The outer portion of the ear of the 

 former is much larger than that of the latter, but the interior part is smaller. The 

 horse-shoe bat has a greater extension of the organ of smell, and when about to take 

 flight it agitates its nose much more than the long-eared bat. From these experi- 

 ments M. de Jurine concludes, first, that the eyes of the bat are not indispensably 

 necessary to it for finding its way ; secondly, that the organ of hearing appears to 

 supply that of sight in the discovery of bodies, and to furnish these animals with dif- 

 ferent sensations to direct their flight, and enable them to avoid those obstacles which 

 may present themselves. Connected with these and similar experiments, we find the 

 names of Spallanzani, Professors Vosalli at Turin, Rossi at Pisa, and M. Spadone at 

 Bologna. Spallanzani, to convince himself on this subject, — not content with either 

 burning the cornea with a red hot wire or pulling out the pupil with a pair of small 

 pincers, — covered the wounds with pieces of leather, that the light might have no in- 

 fluence whatever on the remains of the organs which had been destroyed ; yet with 

 all this cruelty they flew just the same as if they had enjoyed their eyesight, and 

 showed themselves as bold and lively in their flight. — J. Mcintosh ; Milton Abbey, 

 May, 1850. 



White Variety of the Polecat. — Towards the end of March a pure white variety 

 of the polecat was trapped in the vicinity of Otmoor, Oxfordshire. As some of your 

 correspondents seem to look upon the polecat as a rarity, I will take this opportunity 

 of observing that in this county it is one of the commonest species of vermin. In 

 size these animals vary much, but with this single exception I have never seen any 

 material difference in their colour. — A. Matthews; Weston-on-the-Green, April 15, 

 1850. 



A Story about a Cat. — One would hardly imagine that an animal so usually un- 

 sentimental as a cat would ever be found to exhibit feelings of affection so lively and 

 enduring towards another of its own species, — sensibilities in short so human, — as 

 actually to die of grief on the death of the object beloved : but that it may be even 

 so, I think the following tragic little tale will at least show to be probable. I knew 



