l62 TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



appearing to luxuriate in the warmth. It was, how- 

 ever, a timid animal, not at all disposed to become 

 familiar in the way that long-eared bats will so become. 



The leaf-nosed bats (2) form a family confined to the 

 temperate and tropical parts of the Old World, from Old 

 Ireland to New Ireland. In temperate regions they 

 hibernate in dry and warm hiding-places during the 

 winter, not venturing abroad in the cold. In tropical 

 and sub-tropical countries they frequent hill regions, 

 and many kinds are clothed with very long and dense 

 fur. More than fifty species have been described. 



These bats are very remarkable for the extraordinary 

 folds and processes of skin which surround and decorate 

 their noses, which appear to be excessively delicate 

 organs of touch, no doubt capable of appreciating the 

 proximity of objects through atmospheric pressure in an 

 extremely high degree. This would appear to be the 

 case both on account of the large nerves with which 

 these organs are supplied, and also from the fact that 

 when leaf -nosed bats are observed flying with common 

 bats in an enclosed space they much excel the latter in 

 dexterity. 



The nose-leaf consists of three parts ; (i) A more or 

 less horseshoe-shaped fold of skin which invests the sides 

 and front of the muzzle and includes the nostrils within 

 its inner margin : (2) A central ridge-like process 

 between and behind the nostrils ; and (3) a membrane 

 behind this, that either stands up vertically or extends 

 backwards between the ears, which difier from those of 

 the common bats, in that no sort of second ear — the 

 tragus — stands up within them. 



These bats come out later at night than the common 

 bats, and they have especially pointed teeth to crush the 

 dense cases of beetles on which they feed largely. 



