BATS AND FLYING-FOXES — Order, CHIROPTERA 
No animals would seem more dissimilar from monkeys and 
lemurs than the bats, yet there are so many points of resemblance 
in structure that some of the older zodlogists classified bats 
among the Primates, and modern ones rank them next to them 
in an order Chiroptera — the ‘‘wing-handed” creatures. No 
fossil remains have been discovered bridging the gap between 
these and the lemurs, on the one hand, or the Insectivora on 
the other; and no one is yet able to explain the steps in ac- 
quirement of the power of birdlike flight which so sharply dis- 
tinguishes bats from all other mammals. In fact, at first bats 
were classed with birds, regardless of their fur and teeth and 
of the fact that their young were born and suckled like those of 
other mammals; and this egregious error was not authentically 
corrected until refuted by John Ray, the father of modern 
zoology, who was born in England in 1628 and died in 1705. 
Bats are simply flying mammals, necessarily small, with the 
bones of the fore limbs light, hollow, and greatly elongated, the 
middle finger in some cases exceeding the total length of the 
body. These lengthened digits (rst to 4th, for the thumb is 
short and remains outside) support between themselves and the 
hinder limbs a membrane which opens and closes much like 
an umbrella. Most bats also have a membrane between the 
hind legs and the tail, supported by a bony process from the 
heel, and useful in steering. The expanse of these leathery 
wings is far greater than that of most birds relative to the size 
of the body, but the muscles are weaker; and the exterior 
thumb with its strong claw, and in some cases a sucker, by 
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