THE CAROLINA BAT i6i 



derable degree of familiarity with those who feed and 

 caress it. I have frequently watched them when in con- 

 iinement, and have observed them to be bold and familiar 

 even from the first. They are very cleanly, not only 

 cleaning themselves after feeding, and at other times 

 with great assiduity, but occasionally assisting each other 

 in this office. They are very playful, too, and their 

 gambols are none the less amusing from their awkward- 

 ness. They run over and against each other, pretending 

 to bite, but never harming their companions of the same 

 species, though I have seen them exhibit a sad spirit of 

 persecution to an unfortunate barbastelle bat which was 

 placed in the same cage with them. They may readily 

 be brought to eat from the hand ; and my friend, Mr. 

 James Sowerby, had one which, when at liberty in 

 the parlour, would fly to the hand of any of the young 

 people who held up a fly toward it, and, pitching 

 on the hand, take the fly without hesitation. If the 

 insect were held between the lips, the bat would 

 then settle on its young patron's cheek and take the fly 

 with great readiness from the mouth ; and so far was 

 this familiarity carried, that when either of my young 

 friends made a humming noise with the mouth in 

 imitation of an insect, the bat would search about the 

 lips for the promised dainty." 



One of the " young friends " here referred to is now 

 the esteemed Secretary of the Eoyal Botanic Society of 

 London, and he has assured us of the truth of this 

 anecdote. 



The barbastelle bat is a kind confined to the northern 

 regions of the Old World. It is a small bat with swollen 

 cheeks and short ears, each containing a tragus more 

 than half as long as the ear itself. 



One found asleep in a chalk cavern in England began 

 to wake up when brought into a warm room, when it 

 fed readily on small bits of meat and drank water. It 

 was fond of lying on the hearthrug before the fire. 



