MARSH HAT. (One-half natural size.) 
ORDER II.— CHIROPTERA, OR WING-HANDED ANIMALS. 
THE BATS. 
CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTION. — CLASSIFICATION OF HATS.— THE FRUIT-EATING BATS. 
One of iEsop’s Fables — Opinions of the Ancients regarding Bats — Scaliger’s Statement of the Puzzle — Opinions of the 
Middle Ages — The True Position of the Bats — The Wing of the Bat— General Structure : The Breast-bone, Arms, 
Fingers, “Wing-membrane,” Wings, Skull, Ribs, Pelvis, Legs — In Repose — Walking — The Teats — Organs of the Senses 
— “Blind as a Bat ’’—The Eyes — Spallanzani’s Experiments — The Bat’s Power of Directing its Flight in the Darkest 
Places— Their Food— In Winter- Quarters — A Battue of Bats — Fkugivorous and Insectivorous Bats. 
One of those ancient fables ascribed to AEsop, which were the delight of our younger days, 
contains a description of a battle between the birds and the beasts. The grounds of the quarrel we do 
not remember, and indeed the moral of the fable was tacked on to the conduct of the Bat. Availing 
himself of his combination of fur and wings, that astute animal hovered over the field of battle, and 
took his place on one side or the other, according to the direction in which the tide of success appeared 
to be turning, with the purpose, of course, of claiming in any case to be on the side of the victors. 
But this finesse was unsuccessful ; the traitor was scouted by both parties, and has ever since been 
compelled to make his appearance in public only at night. Passing over the ingenious explanation 
thus afforded of the nocturnal habits of the Bats, this fable reflects pretty clearly the state of uncer- 
tainty in which the ancients were as to their precise nature. The union of a Mouse-like body 
with long wings was a great puzzle to people who had no sound principles of natural history classifi- 
cation to go upon ; and even among the naturalists of antiquity there was much doubt as to the true 
position to be assigned to animals so singularly endowed. Aristotle seems to have thought they were 
birds with wings of skin ; and Pliny describes them as the only birds which bring forth their young 
alive and suckle them. Among the Jews it is perfectly clear that the Bat was reckoned a bird ; it 
is distinctly included among the unclean fowls in Leviticus (xi. 19), and Deuteronomy (xiv. 18). The 
obfuscation displayed by ancient writers with respect to the Bat is well shown in the following passage, 
in which Scaliger summarises their opinions-* — “It is indeed,” he says, “an animal of marvellous 
