264 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
breathing. Little fragments of sponge impregnated with musk, camphor, or storax were fastened in 
front of the nostrils, and then the Bats hew about as freely as ever, and showed the same power ol 
avoiding contact with objects in their path. The removal of the tongue, as might be expected, 
produced no result. 
Many of Spallanzani’s experiments were repeated by M. de Jurine, of Geneva, and with similar 
results, although Jurine found that when the ears were effectually stopped the Bats struck their wings 
against any object that came in their way. 
Spallanzani found further that when the head of a Bat was enclosed in a small paper bag, or 
even wrapped in some fine light stuff, the animal could not be induced to fly. Coupling this observa- 
tion with the results of his other experiments, he came to the conclusion that the mysterious faculty 
possessed by Bats of finding their way in the darkest places was due to some special sense with which 
they were endowed, and which was seated in some unknown organ 
situated in the head. Cuvier, however, who was the first really to 
appreciate the results of these experiments, arrived at the conclusion, 
now generally accepted, that the wonderful power possessed by Bats 
of directing their flight in places so dark as to render the sharpest eyes 
useless, was due to an exceptional development of the sense of touch, 
residing especially in the great delicate membranous expanse of the 
wings. These organs are really of the most delicate structure, and 
traversed by nerves, the fine ramifications of which terminate in little 
loops, like those found hi those parts of the skin in man in which the 
sense of touch is manifested with the greatest perfection ; and their 
surface is covered with rows of small thickened points, or papillae, 
which may very probably have something to do with the perception of 
exceedingly delicate tactile impressions. Further, the wings of Bats are very copiously supplied with 
blood-vessels, and according to Dr. Wharton Jones even the veins are furnished with contractile 
walls, so that the circulation of the blood in them must be exceedingly active. In fact, acccording to 
Professor St. George Mivart, we have here a condition of things which may be in some degree 
analogous to a state of inflammation, which would doubtless considerably heighten the sensibility of 
the parts. But besides the wing-membranes many Bats, as we have seen, possess greatly enlarged 
ears, and also curious leaf-like and membranous appendages attached to the region of the nose, all of 
which no doubt partake of the sensibility of the wing-membranes, and assist in no small degree 
in guiding their possessors. In fact, from some observations recorded in Bell’s “ British Quadrupeds ” 
with regard to two British species (the Pipistrelle and the Horseshoe Bat), it would appear that the 
species with nasal appendages show greater acuteness of perception than those with simple noses, mid 
many of them are known to frequent the darkest places of retreat, and to fly later than some of their 
less highly endowed fellows. 
The food of the great majority of Bats consists of insects, which they capture on the wing. The 
members of one great family, however, and some species of another, feed upon fruits ; whilst a few 
And at least a part of their nourishment in the blood of other animals. They generally fly in the 
twilight of the evening and morning, retiring to obscure places during the day, although some species 
will occasionally come out of their concealment by daylight. 
In temperate and cold climates they pass the winter in a torpid state suspended by their hinder 
claws in their ordinary places of daily retreat, where they are often to be found in immense numbers. 
An American gentleman, describing a cave in the Western Territories, where the excrements of Bats had 
formed so large a deposit of iC guano” that it was proposed to utilise it as manure, was asked by a 
friend of ours about the number of Bats in the cavern. He said, “ Well, I guess when we went in 
there was about as much Bats as air in it.” There is doubtless a slight tinge of occidental hyperbole 
about this statement, but the following sober details, although also from the Western continent, may 
serve to show what multitudes of these creatures may collect together when left undisturbed in 
a suitable haunt. The story is told in the introduction to Dr. Allen’s “ Monograph of the Bats of 
North America,” and is a description by M. Figaniere, Portuguese Minister to the United States, of 
the incidents attending his occupation of a new house in May, I860 : — 
f 
HEAD OF THE SPECTACLED VAMPIltE 
(STENODEKMA PEKSPICILLATUM.) 
