262 ZOOLOGY. 



otherwise in so long a distance it wonld have little chance 

 of aligliting exactly ujjon the trunk." Its food consists 

 chiefly of leaves. 



Order 4. Cldroptera (Bats). — The bats form a well-cir- 

 cumscribed group of mammals, very distinct from any 

 other, especially in the gi-eatly modified fore-limbs, the ra- 

 dius and ulna being united, and the second to the fifth 

 ^ metacai'pal bones and jdnilanges being very long and slender, 

 supporting a thin, leathery membrane or skin, extending 

 to the hind legs, and wholly or partly enclosing the tail; 

 the hind toes being, liowever, free, as when at rest or in 

 the vegetarians when feeding, bats hang head downwards, 

 holding on by their claws. The sternum is slightly keeled 

 for the attachment of the muscles of flight. The mam- 

 mary glands are (icctoi-al. In other res[)ects, es|)ecially the 

 dentition, the bats lesenible the Insect ivora. The form of 

 the teeth diffei's from the ordinary insectivorous bats m 

 those which live on fruit. The vegetable-eating or fruit- 

 ing bats have a supei'ficial resemblance to the flying lemui's; 

 and because their mamma3 are pectoral, have been placed 

 next to the Primates. 



Bats live in caves and in the hollow of trees by day; all 

 hibermite in the same situations, going into winter quar- 

 ters in the autumn, and rcapptearing in the Avarm twilight 

 of silling. Though the eyes are small, and the sight, so 

 far as we know, deficient in keenness, they show wonderful 

 skill in avoiding olijects during their rapid flight. The ears 

 are very lai'ge, and in the vampires the nose is adorned 

 with sensitive, leaf-like growths of complicated form. Cer- 

 tain bats, but not the true vamjiires, are known to enter 

 houses and lo snck the lilood of sleejiing persons, who 

 awake to find their feet covered with blood. 



The largest hats are the fruit bats or flying foxes (Pfero- 

 pus) of the East Indies, one species of which exi>ands one 

 and a half meti'es (nearly five feet) from tip to ti]) of the 

 wings. They assemble in large flocks in the Moluccas to 

 eat fruit, by day hanging by thousands on the trees. Our 



