LEAF-NOSED BATS. 



107 



prefers narrow recesses in buildings and 

 trees, cares little for cold, snow, rain, or 

 wind, wakes early and easily out of its winter- 

 sleep, flies about sometimes in dull but warm 

 winter days, and with as much expertness 

 and agility as its large cousin ; easily accus- 

 toms itself to captivity ; and, like the noctule, 

 brings forth two 

 young at a birth. 



While the other 

 bats are rather sta- 

 tionary, the Ves- 

 perugos undertake 

 long migrations, 

 and it seems to be 

 proved regarding a 

 species, whose true 

 home is in the 

 north, and which 

 never advances fur- 

 ther south than the 

 Harz Mountains, 

 the Vesperugo Nil- 

 soni, that its migra- 

 tions extend from 

 the Russian Baltic 

 provinces, where it 

 passes the winter 

 and early summer, 



to the shores of the White Sea, where it 

 appears in crowds towards autumn. 



Leaf-nosed Bats {PhyHostoinatd). 



With membranous appendages to the nose, mostly supported 

 by thin plates of cartilage. 



As already observed, this sometimes simple, 

 sometimes rather complex nasal appendage 

 has nothing to do with the sense of smell, 

 but is only the seat of a delicate sense of 

 touch. This group, very rich in genera and 

 species, is but sparingly represented in our 

 part of the world, and is specially abundant 

 in the tropics of both hemispheres. The 

 food is frequently composed of fruits and the 

 blood and flesh of warm-blooded animals 

 besides insects. 



As links of transition connecting the two 

 families we may regard those genera and 

 sub-families in which the nasal appendage 

 has only a small extent and a simple form. 

 Among these is the Flap-nosed Bat [R/iino- 

 poma vucropJiylluiu), fig. 43, immense numbers 

 of which inhabit natural and artificial caves 



in Lower Ep- 



&ypt. 



Fig. 42. — The Pipistrelle or Dwarf Bat { Vesperugo pipistrcllttrs). 



where by their very 

 abundance, by their 

 manner of flutter- 

 ing about, and by 

 the stench of the 

 frequently foot- 

 deep accumulations 

 of their excrements, 

 they constitute a 

 material hindrance 

 in the exploration of 

 the ancient monu- 

 ments. This species 

 is a small mouse- 

 coloured form, with 

 pretty long wings, 

 and with the lower 

 part of the legs and 

 ~klso of the tail quite 

 jL^o r|ree, the latter pro- 

 jecting in the form 

 of a thin naked pointed rod to a length 

 as great as that of the whole body. The 

 ears are of moderate size, the tragi narrow, 

 small, the nose somewhat proboscis-like, and 

 terminating in a small disk pierced by the 

 nostrils, and rising above into a short flabby 

 point. The nostrils can be quite closed 

 as in diving animals. There are only 28 

 teeth; in the upper jaw one incisor, one 

 canine, one premolar, and three molars ; in 

 the lower, two incisors, one canine, two pre- 

 molars, and three molars. Dental formula 



T • T • J • -> 



= 28. The premaxilla is complete 



2 • I • 2 ■ 3 ^ 



and without a median interval. 



Much more developed, though still simple, 



is the nasal appendage in the notorious and 



