40 VERTEBRATES. 



it slowly advances until ■within reach j then putting forward its 

 paw with a motion slow and imperceptible as 

 the movement of the shadow on the dial, it 

 gradually places its fingers over the devoted 

 bird; then, with a movement swifter than the 

 3yo can follow, it selees its startled prey. 



HAND-WINOED ANIMALS. 



Bats. — These are the only types of 

 this family, and were arranged by Linnaeus 

 with man and the monkeys. They are 

 The Slender Loria. Sufficiently distinguished, however, by their 

 wings. These are formed of a thin fold of 

 skin, which extends between the two limbs of the same side, 

 and is likewise stretched across the claws of the fore feet, which 

 are very long and slender, and serve to keep the membrane 

 extended like the sticks of an umbrella. By means of thi? 

 apparatus, many of them are enabled to fly with a force and 

 rapidity equal to that of birds ; but, in others, it answers only the 

 purpose of a parachute to break their fall from lofty places, or to 

 enable them to perform great leaps in their passage from tree to 

 tree. They are principally nocturnal animals, seeking their prey 

 (which consists of iniiects, small quadrupeds or birds, and flesh of 

 any kind) in the twilight, and retiring during the day to dark 

 and hidden recesses, where they remain suspended by their claws, 

 till the return of night. 



They possess the singular faculty of directing theii flight 

 with great accuracy and precision, without the assistance of the 

 sense of sight, and even after their eyes have been destroypd. It 

 has been found that, after the complete removal of the pyeball, 

 bats Are able to fly about in a room without touching the walls, 

 apparently with as much ease and security as before. What is still 

 more remarkable, when several willow rods are placed six inches 

 distant from each other, so as to form a sort of grating, the bats, 

 after the destruction of their eyes, are able to pass backward and 

 forward through the spaces without ever coming in contact with 



