1880 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
4r39 
DOUBLE ACROSTIC. 
The initials form a river, and the finals an animal. 
1. To rebuke. 5. An exclamation. 
2. Real. 6. A city. 
3. An animal. 7. A metal. 
CONUNDRUM. 
What letter of the alphabet would provide clothes for 
a poor boy in winter ? 
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE AUGUST NUMBER. 
Word Making.— 1. Add the D. I!, to The word “beast,” 
transpose it into “ dabster.” 2. Local -(- O. H. = alcohol. 3. 
Model, earldom. 4. Steam, amnesty. 5. Clean, calcine. 
Concealed Quotation.—L ike a dewdrop from the lion's 
mane he shook in air.” 
Definition Puzzles—1. Quaint. 
4. Vintage. 5. Synonym. 6. Rustic. 
Scattered Square. 
CARE 
ANON 
ROAD 
ENDS 
2. Utensil. 3. Upstart. 
7. Ornate. 8. Rniu. 
Numerical Enigmas. —1. 
Never try to anpear what you 
are not. 2. Mocking bird. 
Charade.— Mushroom. 
Cross-word.— Vain-glory. 
Subtractions. —1. Bone— 
B = one. 2 . Stone — St = one. 
3. Five—Fie=V. 4. CIVIL— 
CIIL=V. 5. Weight— W = 
eight. 6. SIX—S=IX. 
Square Word. 
HOPE 
OPAL 
PAIL 
ELLA 
Positives and Comparatives —1. Waif, wafer. 2. Rush, 
Russia. 3. Tamp, tamper. 4. Ham, hammer. 5. Tend, ten¬ 
der. 6. Ten, tenor. 7. Cent, center. 8. Dress, dresser. 
Anagrams.— 1. Pettifogger. 2. Burthen. 3. Interpose. 
4. Entrances. 5. Reminds. G. Merchants. 7. Rewarded. 
8. Delivery. 
Illustrated Rebus, No. 479.—Contentment is a pearl of 
great price. 
Some Old Birds in a New Form.— Partridge, .lav. Lark. 
Crane, Crow, Condor, Sparrow, Kingfisher. Eagle, Cross¬ 
bill, Sheldrake. 
The Amt and the E'ly. 
While passing along the roadside to-day I saw a small 
the flagging stones of the side walk. 
At a second glance I saw it was a 
redant, and that it was half drag¬ 
ging and half carrying a large fly, 
which appeared to be dead. That 
so small an animal could carry so 
large a load—the fly being two or 
three times as large as the ant—was 
interesting, so I stopped to see it 
done. Thinking what might be 
hard for the ant to do on the smooth 
stone, would be given up when 
greater obstructions were put in 
the way of its progress I turned the 
ant, with its load, towards the grass 
upon the border. It was hard work 
now, but the ant did not give up by 
any means, it tugged and palled the 
Fig. 2. skeleton fly over the grass stubble and grass 
OF MAN. stems that lay across its pathway. 
Sometimes the stems would make a net-work through 
which thegreatload would not pass,and after trying faith¬ 
fully to break through, the ant would turn to one side and 
Fig. 4.— A FLYING FOX. 
•go around the obstruction. In a number of instances, 
while I stood and watched, the ant would leave the fly 
■when in a tight place and go in search for an easier pas¬ 
sage. Once after looking for some time as if in dismay, 
the ant found a way out, and turning hack towards the 
prize it raised itself on its hind legs and looked around 
as if to make sure, and then drawing its fore-feet across 
its head went vigorously at work. This last action may 
remind you of boys, and men as well, who. when they 
have some great task to perform, some heavy load 
to lift, will straighten themselves up to full length 
and moisten the palms of the hands with the saliva 
from the mouth. After I 
had followed the ant with 
its load for a consider¬ 
able distance I put myself 
in its way, and made it 
go again to the sidewalk 
where at first, to its joy, it 
found much better travel¬ 
ling. But wishing to see 
what might be the ant's re¬ 
gard for its load I caught 
it and took away the 
fly. This made the ant 
much excited, and if the 
same motions should be 
made by a boy upon tak¬ 
ing anything from him, 
we would all say that he 
was mad. The ant soon 
began to run in gradu¬ 
ally widening circles, 
and very rapidly. The 
fly was again placed upon 
the paving stones about 
a foot from the “ run ” of 
the ant, and was in a few 
seconds in the hands of its 
captor. I then took the 
fly from the ant, simply 
separating them by an 
ordinary envelope, edge down, when the ant tried its 
best to crawl under at the point nearest to the fly, but 
soon saw the folly of this and went around at the end. 
Just at this time a gust of wind came which lifted the 
fly up and carried it some feet away. The ant was again 
in anger, and began its circular motions as before. If 
my time had not been worth more than that of the ant's, 
I might have been able to state the results of this 
search; but as it was I brought the fly back to within a 
foot of the ant and he was soon happy again. As a 
parting torment I took the fly again, not raising it into 
the air. but pulling it rapidly along on the paving stones, 
when the ant followed in the trail and finally, greatly 
to its satisfaction, ran off with its booty. U. II. 
Something' About CSina-. 
Bats are queer animals. One seldom tires of looking 
at them—either as they are flying in the air at sundown, 
or after they have folded their wings for a rest during 
the day. The early naturalists, that is those who studied 
natural objects many years ago, were puzzled by the 
bats; they could fly and therefore they called them birds 
and put them in the same order as the great Ostrich— 
which by the way does not fly. Bats have teeth—as 
many of the boys and girls may perhaps know by ex¬ 
perience—and have a fine soft coat of fur; in these 
things they are like rats and mice. Why is it that a bat 
can fly through the air, and coming through the open 
window can flit around the room, while the little mouse 
is doomed to run upon the ground to be shut away from 
the bread and cheese of which he is so fond, if lie cannot 
climb to it ? The first figure will help us to answer this 
question. The first thing that one will notice in a hat 
are its peculiar wings. They are not like a bird's wings, 
but made up of a thin skin, stretched across from some 
bones which are made specially long for the purpose. 
It may be that some of you think the wings are like the 
top of an umbrella or a portion of one, and the com¬ 
parison will not be far out of the way. In figure 1 we 
have the skeleton, or the bones of one of the larger bats, 
the flesh and all other portions having been removed. 
Figure 2 shows the skeleton of a man. of course greatly 
reduced in size. It will he seen at a glance that our own 
bones and those of a bat are a good deal alike as to num¬ 
ber, position, shape, etc. That which just now interests 
us most are the bones of the hands. In man they are 
quite short, while in the hat they arc very long. The 
middle finger, for example, being longer than the head 
and body of the bat. If we had our fingers as long in 
proportion as those of the bat they would be very much 
in the way ; hut if we had those fingers and a tough 
skin stretched between, then we should have wings like 
those of the hats ; and perhaps we might use them for 
flying, and have great times in the air. 
One of the most common bats is the Long-Eared one 
given in figure 3. But what is the use of having such big 
ears ? you may ask. There is a common expression : 
“As blind as a bat.” Now, bats are not blind, but their 
eyes are very small and appear to be of a poor quality ; 
this is especially true with the Long-Eared Bat. To 
make good for this lack of sharp eyes, the ears are of 
larger size, and in a measure take the place of the eyes— 
just as a blind person will make his ears do much of the 
work that his eyes would do if he could use them. The 
sense of smell of the bats is also exceedingly acute, the 
nose being of large size and grotesque form as if it had 
been turned inside out. These curiously formed noses 
belong to those bats that pass much of their time m 
dark caves where there is little or no light. The delicate 
sense of smell also acts as a substitute for eyes in places 
where eyes would be of no use. Figure 4 shows one of 
the Flying Foxes, so-called on account of the red, fox¬ 
like color of the fur and foxy head. They are the larg¬ 
est of the bat tribe, some of them measuring five feet 
across the open wings. Although so large, unless roughly 
handled, they are not at all dangerous. The Vampire 
Bat, Fig. 5, is not so large by half as the Flying Fox, 
but has some very unpleasant stories told about it; it 
is accused of sucking the blood from sleeping persons. 
Many tales have been told of this South American bat; 
which is said to come silently by night and, poising it¬ 
self upon the naked feet of its sleeping prey, fan the 
victim with its extended wings, which, producing a cool 
atmosphere in those hot climates, aid in soothing the 
sleeper into a still deeper repose. The bat then begins 
its work by making a tiny wound with its sharp teeth, 
and with its lips sucks the blood from its sleeping victim 
until he perishes from loss of blood. This is now con¬ 
sidered but a traveller's tale, the real facts in the case 
being that the Vampiie does bite animals and man, 
but the wound is usually very slight and never fatal. 
The bats in tb“ north, and those that most of the 
young readers of the A merican Agriculturist have met or 
are likely to meet, are small and harmless If there is 
Fig. 5.—VAMPIRE BATS. 
any lesson of more than unusual importance to be drawn 
by a study of bats, it-is the peculiar development of the 
hands, or paws, by means of which a group of animals, 
otherwise closely related to creeping and walking things, 
can rise in the air, and propel themselves through it 
with the ease of birds, though with irregular mo¬ 
tions more resembling those of moths and butterflies. 
Fig. 3. —THE LONG-EAHED BAT. 
