THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
scopic examinations of the wing membrane. Schdbl found that it consisted 
of a double layer of skin, one continuous with the hide of the back, the other 
with that of the abdomen, fused together. Within these fused skins are em- 
bedded two layers of elastic muscles, blood vessels, and nerves, the last in an 
extremely complicated system, with innumerable branching fibrils extending 
nearly to the surface; also a vast number of bulblike ends, each situated 
at the root of one of the microscopically minute hairs with which the surface 
of the wing is covered. To these hairs and bulbous underlying “‘end 
organs”’ are attributed the bat’s exalted sense of touch, while another set 
of fibrils seems to report sensations of temperature, pain, etc. 
Many bats are aided, furthermore, by membranous outgrowths about 
the ears and nose, similarly formed and equally or more sensitive. These 
in some families reach an extravagant size, and give the face a most comical 
or perhaps hideous aspect; and they are larger in males than in females. 
EXAMPLES OF MEMBRANOUS GROWTHS ON THE FACES OF LEAF-NOSED BATS. 
The bats fall into two divisions, — the small and nocturnal 
Microchiroptera, and the large and diurnal Megachiro ptera. 
The former division is the higher in respect to organization, 
and contains the greater number and variety of bats, scattered 
all over the world, even to the Arctic Circle, Cape Horn, and 
remote sea islands. There are five families, — the Phyllosto- 
mide and Emballonuride of the Tropics generally; the desert 
bats (Nycteride), the nose-leaf bats (Rhinolophide) of the 
warmer parts of the Old World; and the Vespertilionide, 
which have no nose leaf, are represented in all quarters of the 
globe, and are by far the most numerous of all. 
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