lOO 



THE BATS. 



one for a day or so clings on to two rudi- 

 mentary eminences at the opening of the 

 female pudenda, but in other species it at 

 once crawls up to the two pectoral teats. 

 The ovum and the embryo begin to develop 

 in spring, and our species mostly usher their 

 young into the world from the end of May to 

 the middle of June. For a long period the 

 young are carried about by the mother. The 

 union of the sexes takes place in autumn 

 before the winter-sleep, at least, in the case 

 of adult bats — a fact now definitely ascertained. 

 Only a certain number of young ones, which 

 in the autumn had not reached the period 

 of puberty, unite in spring ; all the old ones 

 unite in autumn. The semen remains in the 

 uterus of the female in a state fit to fertilize 

 the ovum all through the winter, and not till 

 spring does the ovum become liberated from 

 the ovary, and get impregnated, so that the 

 embryo may begin to develop. Similar 

 processes are observed in many other mam- 

 mals, as, for example, in the roebuck. 



The food of our bats while living in a state 

 of freedom consists exclusively of insects and 

 spiders, which they sometimes catch in flight, 

 sometimes by dexterously snapping them up 

 from the spots on which they are resting, 

 while themselves flying. The great army of 

 the mostly noxious moths or nocturnal Lepi- 

 doptera forms the bulk of their food, and 

 hence bats must be regarded as remarkably 

 useful creatures to man. They perform 

 during the darkness the same service as is 

 performed by the swallows by day, a service 

 but imperfectly rendered by the small number 

 of goatsuckers and small owls, which also 

 destroy nocturnal flying insects. Bats ought, 

 for that reason, to enjoy the same respect 

 and protection as the swallows. Like all 

 insect-eaters the bats are extremely voracious, 

 being active during almost the entire night 

 with only short intervals of rest; but their 

 pursuit of insects and other prey is carried 

 on chiefly just after sunset and before sunrise. 

 A pause takes place about midnight. Ac- 



cording to their powers of flight they take 

 short rests between their different forays, or 

 go on flying for hours together like swallows. 

 Some pretend to have observed, that in all 

 the rapid turns of their chase, which, how- 

 ever, is always carried on within a limited 

 range, the bats go to work in a very dainty 

 particular manner, and likewise exhibit much 

 prudence. They are said, for example, to 

 consume only the bodies of moths, allowing 

 the wings to drop, and it is even related that 

 a bat has spared a female in order to catch 

 one after another the males who swarmed 

 round her. It may be that the female crouched 

 in a fissure in the bark of a tree in such a 

 manner that the bat could not get at her. 

 Many a fable is invented regarding the animal 

 kingdom! 



But though in a state of freedom it has 

 never been observed that the native bats 

 make use of any other food than that men- 

 tioned; in captivity it has sometimes hapjpened 

 that one has attacked the other, sucked out 

 its blood, and then consumed it. Similar 

 things have been observed in other animals 

 also, otherwise very peaceable in their habits. 

 On the other hand, it is a well-established 

 fact that bloodthirsty bats do live in tropical 

 countries. In hot regions their food is cer- 

 tainly more varied, and consists, on the one 

 hand, of fruits, on the other hand of the 

 blood of warm-blooded animals, especially 

 birds. Bacon, and dead things generally, 

 they never touch unless they have been 

 trained to it. 



The enemies of the bats are, above all, the 

 owls, and next after these, such animals as 

 seek them out in their hiding-places — martens, 

 weasels, rats, and even mice. But, for the 

 most part, they hang themselves up in places 

 where climbing animals cannot reach. 



The fur is mostly fine and thick. The 

 hairs have a peculiar structure by which they 

 can be recognized with certainty under the 

 microscope. Wingless insects and mites 

 usually swarm as parasites on this fur and 



