370 BRANCH CHORDATA 



in China/ says that these colors are highly protective, for the 

 brilliant bat inhabiting Formosa resorts to the longan tree. 

 This evergreen tree always has some portion of its foliage decay- 

 ing, making these dying leaves orange and black, while the fruit 

 is reddish yellow. Thus the orange and black bat, suspended 

 from the branches, is concealed from its enemies by its protect- 

 ive resemblance. Owing to their nocturnal habits very little 

 is known of the activities of bats. " We know that in the winter 

 some of our species live in caves in a semidormant condition," 

 and Dr. Hart Merriam has proved that some species do migrate 

 in fall and spring. All bats living within the snow limit of the 

 Temperate Zone must either migrate or hibernate, for the fruit- 

 eating bats could find no food, and the delicate wings of the 

 vampire, which might find food, would be frozen stiff in zero 

 weather, so the latter are chiefly tropical. Bats usually inhabit 

 caves, a million sometimes hibernating in one cave. The thick 

 layer of guano on the floor of the cave may represent the deposit 

 of centuries. Bat guano is a valuable fertilizer. In warm 

 countries bats live in hollow trees. The cry is a shrill squeak. 

 They are widely distributed, being found on islands where there 

 are no other mammals. The occurrence of the same genus of 

 bats in India and Madagascar has led some to believe that there 

 must have been at one time some connection between these 

 countries, as these slow-flying creatures could hardly have 

 traversed these vast stretches of ocean by their power of flight 

 alone. ^ However, Hornaday tells of a British long-eared bat 

 which was found clinging to the rail of an Atlantic steamer 30 

 miles from land, with no breeze going from the land. 



Bats are divided into two groups: the large diurnal (2Ieg'a- 

 chirop'tera), or fruit-eating bats, and the nocturnal (Mi'cro- 

 chirop'tera), or insect-eating bats. 



Megachiroptera. — The ordinary fruit bats or /ox bats number about forty 

 species. The fur is fox red, the muzzle long and pointed. The eyes are 

 big and the ears upright, giving them a fox-like appearance. They live in 

 colonies of from five to fifty. Hornaday killed some having 40 inches 

 spread of wings. He says "of all creatures that fly, none arc so uncanny 

 when outlined against the sky as the big black-winged, half-naked flying 

 fox (bats). They suggest demons and calamities," The fruit-growers of 

 California, being fearful of their introduction into the United States, have 



' Ingersoll, p. 63. » Beddard, p. 525. 



