94 MAMMALIA. PRIMATES. Bat. 



117 10. Common Bat. — 9. Vefpert'ilio murimis, 6. 



Has a tail : The lips and nofe are fimple ; and the ears are fmaller than the head. 

 Faun. Suec. 2. 



Moufe-coloured bat, with fimple ears. Briff. quad. 158. n. 1. — Bat. Aldrov. ornith. 575. f. 

 p. 576. — Small eared bat. Frifch. av. t. 102. Edw. av. iv. t. 201. f. 2. — Chauve fouris, or bat. 

 Sm. Buff. iv. 380. ift fpec. p. 322. pi. lxxxix. fig. 1. and 2. — Common bat. Penn. hift. of quad, 

 n. 411. Brit. zool. i. n. 40. — Its anatomy. S. N. C. d. 2. a. 1. obf. 48. 



Inhabits Europe, and is found in Britain. — This animal flies only during the night, living chiefly 

 on moths : When it lights on the ground it is unable to rife again till it has crawled to fome height : 

 It hybernates, or remains torpid, as if dead, during winter, revives in the beginning of the fpring, 

 and comes abroad in the grey, or dufk, of the evening. This fpecies is two inches and a half long, 

 when full grown, and about nine indie's in extent ; the fur is of a moufe colour, tinged with red- 

 difh; it generally fkims near the ground, with an uneven jerking flight;. and often, feeking for gnats 

 and other aquatic infects, flies clofe by the furface of water. It breeds in the fummer feafon, and is 

 preyed on by owls. 



The European fpecie* of bat pafs the winter in a torpid ftate, without food or motion, fufpended in 

 fome dark place, in old ruinous houfes, or caverns, or in the hollows of decayed trees : This is called 

 hybernation ; and, during this ftate, moft of the animal functions are fufpended, or at leaft lo greatly 

 diminifhed in their activity as to be fcarcely perceptible: The action of the heart and arteries becomes 

 fo exceedingly languid, that the pulfe can fcarcely be felt, and the natural number of ftrokes, during 

 any given time, is vaftly leffened ; if refpiration be at all carried on, it is fo very flow as fcarcely to be 

 difcoverable ; the natural temperature, or animal heat, likewife gets greatly below the ufual ftandard ; 

 digeftion becomes altogether fufpended, for, during hybernation, no food whatever is taken into the 

 ftomach; all the excretions, except, perhaps, the infenfible perfpiration, and that by the lungs, both 

 of them in a much lower degree than ufual, are at a ftand; and none of the functions feem to go on 

 excepting a very flow degree of nutrition, and interchange of old for new matter in the depository 

 cells of the body : That this laft actually takes place is evident, becaufe all hybernating animals enter 

 into the torpid ftate extremely fat, and revive again exceffively emaciated ; and from this it appears 

 that the "oil, in the fatty follicles of the cellular membrane, is gradually taken up by the abforbent 

 veffels into the languid circulation, to fupply the proportionally gradual wafte, occafioned by the more 

 than half fufpended action of the emunctories. 



Bats are very voracious, if proper food is to be had ; and, though moths and other infects be 

 their natural and common food, yet if flefh, whether raw or roafted, frelh or corrupted, .comes 

 in their way, they devour it with greedinefs. In this country they appear abroad early in fpring, 

 flying about only in the evenings ; but are fometimes roufed from their torpidity by a warm day or 

 two during winter, and will then venture out in queft of food, but recommence their ftate of hyber- 

 nation whenever the cold returns : They retire at the end of fummer into caves, ruined houfes, or the 

 roofs and eaves of houfes, where they remain fufpended by the hind legs, and enveloped in their 

 wings, generally in large numbers. Bats may be caught by means of the flower cups of bur-dock, 

 whit ;ned and thrown up in the way of their flight ; they are attracted by the whitenefs, and the 

 hooks of the bur, flicking to their membranous wings, make them fall to the ground. 



11. 



