CARNARIA. 
67 
THE FIRST FAMILY OF CARNARIA,— 
CHEIROPTERA,— 
Preserves some affinities with the Quadrumana by the pendulous penis*, and mammae which 
are placed on the breast. Their distinctive character consists in a fold of the skin, which, 
commencing at the sides of the neck, extends between their four feet and their fingers, sustains 
them in the air, and even enables such of them to fly as have the hands sufficiently developed 
for that purpose.t This disposition required strong clavicles, and large scapulars, to impart 
the requisite solidity to the shoulder ; but it was incompatible with the rotation of the fore- 
arm, which would have diminished the force of the stroke necessary for flight. These animals 
have all four large canines, but the number of their incisors varies. They have long been 
distributed into two genera, according to the extent of their organs of flight X [sustaining 
membrane] ; but the first requires numerous subdivisions. 
The Bats {Vespertilio, Lin .) — 
Have the arms, fore-arms, and fingers excessively elongated, so as to form, with the 
membrane that occupies their intervals, real wings, the surface of which is equally or 
more extended than in those of Birds. Hence they fly very high, and with great rapidity. 
Fig. 7.— Skeleton of Bat. 
our climates, pass the winter in a torpid 
Their pectoral muscles have a thickness pro- 
portioned to the movements which they have 
to execute, and the sternum possesses a 
medial ridge to afford attachment to them, 
as in Birds. The thumb is short, and fur- 
nished with a crooked nail, by which these 
animals creep and suspend themselves. Their 
hinder parts are [generally] weak, and divided 
into five toes, nearly always of equal length, 
and armed with trenchant and sharp nails. 
They have no coecum to the intestine. Their 
eyes [except in the frugivorous species] are 
extremely small, but their ears are often very 
large, arH constitute with the wings an enor- 
mous extent of membrane, almost naked, and 
so sensible that the Bats guide themselves 
through all the intricacies of their labyrinths, 
even after their eyes have been removed, pro- 
bably by the sole diversity of aerial impres- 
sions. § They are nocturnal animals, which, in 
Dm'ing the day they suspend themselves in 
superfluity, it being clear, speaking generally, that the consumed 
must have pre-existed to the consumer ; or, to embody the proposi- 
tion in still more general terms, the conditions must have been first 
i present, in especial reference to which any species has been or- 
ganized : in conformity with which theorem, it may be remarked, that, 
, however reciprocal, on a superficial view, may appear the relations of 
the preyer and the prey, a little reflection on the observed facts 
I suffices to intimate that the relative adaptations of the former only 
are special, those of the latter being comparatively vague and general ; 
I indicating that there having been a superabundance which might 
serve as nutriment, in the first instance, and which, in many cases, 
J was unattainable by ordinary means, particular species have therefore j 
j been so organized (that is to say, modified upon some more or less 
i|j general type or plan of structure,) to avail themselves of the supply ; 
i; which special adaptation, however, does not necessarily prevent them 
j (in a vast proportion of cases) from also deriving nourishment from 
other sources. Hence, therefore, the organization should be con- 
sidered as having reference to, rather than as occasioning the par- 
ticular habit. — Ed. 
* This organ, however, as in the Carnivora, contains a bone (though 
only within the glans,) with its accompanying pair of muscles. — Ed. 
_■)• This character applies to all, with the exception of the Colugo 
{Galdsopithecus), a genus which has little claim to range in this divi- 
sion. — P)d. 
t This term is inapplicable to the parachute membrane of the 
Colugo.— Ed. 
§ I have reason to suspect that the delicate tact alluded to resides 
\ principally in the facial membrane, present in only some genera. A 
specimen of Vesp. Nattereri, which I have just been observing, (in 
which restricted genus there is no developement of membrane on the 
face,) has several times, in flying about the room, flapped against a 
glass case. — E d. 
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