1867.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
4:01 
Flying Quadrupeds— Bats. 
These little animals, which are more innocent 
and friendly in their relations to mankind than 
any other of the untamed species with which 
we are acquainted, are unfortunately very com- 
monly regarded with a sort of superstitious 
dread, or, at least, strong antipathy. Xo one 
can accuse them of 
any evil deed. They 
require, although 
small ,a large amount 
of food, and, living 
entirely upon in- 
sects, which they 
take upon the wing, 
are the means of de- 
stroying vast num- 
bers of the most an- 
noying kinds. Thev 
fly in the night, or 
dusky twilight, and 
so are especially the 
foes of mosquitoes, 
which the}' often fol- 
low even within out- 
dwellings. Bats be- 
long to the class 
Mammalia, because 
their young are born 
alive, and are suck- 
led. Their anatomi- 
cal structure is very 
peculiar and inter- 
esting, and they are 
possessed of some most wonderful faculties, 
especially an acuteness of the senses of smell, 
feeling, and hearing, which renders the depri- 
vation of sight, as it would seem, of compara- 
tively little moment. They all have small, clear, 
beadlike. eyes, with which they can see tolerably 
well even in broad daylight. From observa- 
tions made originally, we believe, by Spallan- 
zani, it appears ^_^ 
that bats whose 
eyes have been 
put out will catch 
insects, fly about, 
avoiding obsta- 
cles, and even fly 
through narrow 
spaces without 
touching. This 
remarkable facul- 
ty is attributed by 
some to the ex- 
traordinary deli- 
cacy of the nerves 
in the membranes 
which are used as 
wings, by others 
to their very acute 
sense of smell and 
of hearing. The 
species which wo 
figure is one of the 
most common in 
all parts of this 
country, and is ap- 
propriately called 
the Little Brown Bat, (F 
Our engraving was taken from one which was 
arrested, a few nights sine, in its useful career 
of fly catching, for the benefit of the readers of 
the Agriculturist Observe its little body covered 
with long, soft, brownish gray fur ; notice the 
great development of the muscles of the chest, 
used in flying; sop, also. Hint, the almost us 
hind legs, if we may so call them, are the mer- 
est sticks, with apparently neither muscles nor 
joints, except the little five-toed feet. The for- 
ward or upper extremities are the most remark- 
able. Tracing the bony frame from the shoulder, 
we follow a perfect arm-fione, (or humerus^ to 
the elbow, from the elbow to the next joint — 
;i wrist," if you please — there are the two bones 
tk little eeown bat. — ( Yespertilio sitbulatus, J 
of the fore-arm. There, just at this wrist joint, 
is the little thumb, projecting upward, and ter- 
minating with a strong hook ; from this point, 
the long, slender, regularly j ointed fingers spread 
out, tapering to the minutest little threadlike 
bones at the tips. The little bones correspond- 
ing to the first and second fingers of our hand 
are close together, forming the stiff upper rim 
est net-work, like a spider's web. The ears are, 
proportionally, veiy large, and directly in front 
of each there is a long, stiff, point, called the an- 
terior lobe of the ear, which seems to have been 
placed there to prevent insects lodging in the 
ears, should any escape the mouth in the rapid 
flight of the bat. The eyes are very small and 
bright, and deep set ; the nose rather broad at 
the tip, and the nos- 
trils peculiarly dilat- 
ed. The mouth opens 
wide, and displays 
an efficient though 
minute set of very 
sharp, pointed, teeth. 
"When taken, the 
bats all bite fiercely. 
The specimen from 
which the drawing 
was made measured 
nine inches from tip 
to tip of the wings, 
and weighed only 
86 grains — that is, it 
would take more 
than eighty similar 
ones to weigh a 
pound. When at 
rest, bats fold their 
" wings" very close- 
ly, and suspend 
themselves by their 
little hooked thumbs. 
In winter, they col- 
lect in great clus- 
ters in hollow trees, deserted buildings, or caves, 
and thus hibernate. They have two young at 
a birth, which cling to the mother in her flights. 
The American Otter.— (Lutra Canadmsis.) 
the A>rERicAS otter.— f lut Ai Canadensis.) 
of the wings, and from these the delicate, double, 
nearly transparent, skin which forms the wings 
extends to the next turner, ami the next, and 
then it spreads out from the last, finger on each 
le to the body, the legs, arid the tail. This 
membrane is filled with a multitude of blood 
vessels, which, as our artist has indicated, causes 
the whole to appear to be covered with the fin- 
The Otter produces the most valuable fur of 
any animal now found in the older States of the 
Union, and though 
its range is wide, 
extending, or hav- 
ing formerly ex- 
tended, through 
all parts of the 
Union east of the 
great plains, j) j* 
now becoming ex- 
ceedingly scarce. 
Among our native 
furs the skins of 
the beaver, ii fine, 
are alone superior 
to those of the ot- 
ter. It is an ani- 
mal of consider- 
able size, wi lull- 
ing often from -0 
to 35 pounds, and 
measuring three 
to four feet in 
length, exclusive 
of the tail, which 
is 16 to 18 iin h( s 
long. The otter 
lives altogether 
upon fish, which it takes in Hie water with great 
adroitness, It possesses great intelligence, and is 
capable of very thorough domestication, and it is 
probable that, likeits European congener, (Lutra 
vulgaris,) it will breed in confinement, and that 
the young may be trained to hunt for fish, and 
to be of essential service in fishing. The otter of 
ludia is used, na is learned from the journals of 
