176 WILD BEASTS OF THE WOULD 



Europe and exhibited in our Zoological Gardens ; but I have never 

 seen it in any menagerie or in the possession of any dealer. 



The great interest of the animal, of course, lies in the fact that it 

 seems to give us some idea of the way in which the Bats were evolved, 

 though it certainly is not in the direct line of descent of those animals, 

 having too many peculiarities of its own, such as the webbed hind- 

 feet and the remarkable teeth. It does, however, show the parachute- 

 membrane in a more perfect form than any other creature of the kind, 

 and parachutic animals occur in two or three other groups, not necessarily 

 nearly allied, in two distinct families of Squirrels, and among the 

 marsupials. None of these, however, have the webbed fore-paws and 

 the tail completely included in the parachute-skin, which are the 

 peculiarly bat-like points of the Cobego. 



