1867 .] 
• AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
4-01 
Flying Quadrupeds—Bats. 
Tb«so little animals, which are more innocent 
and friendly in their relations to mankind than 
any other of the untamed species with which 
we ar« acquainted, arc unfortunately very com¬ 
monly regarded with a sort of superstitious 
i.read, or, at least, strong aiUipatliy. Xo one 
can accuse them of 
any evil deed. They 
require, although 
small,a large amount 
of f(Jod, and, living 
entirely upon in¬ 
sects, which they 
take ui)on the wing, 
are the means of de¬ 
stroying vast num¬ 
bers of the most an¬ 
noying kinds. They 
fly in the night, or 
dusky twilight, and 
so are especially the 
foes of mosquitoes, 
which they often fol¬ 
low even within our 
dwellings. Bats be¬ 
long to the class 
Mamnudiit, 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 wonderAd facukios, 
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 
\(Ut out will catch 
insects, fly about, 
avoiding obsta¬ 
cles, and even fly 
llirough 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 Avhich we 
figure is one of the 
most common in 
all parts of this 
country, and is ap¬ 
propriately called 
the Little Brown Bat, (Vespcrtilio suhulatva.) 
Our engriiving was taken from one which was 
aiTCSted, a few nights since, in its useful career 
of fly catching, for the benefit of the readers of 
the Agriculturid. Observe its little body covered 
with long, soft, brownish gray fur; notice the 
great development of the muscles of the chest, 
uf/id jk flving; see, also, that the almost useless 
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-bone, (or humerus,) to 
the elbow, from the elbow to the next joint— 
'• wrist,” if you please—there are the two bones 
of liic fore-arni. 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 jointed 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 
TUE AMEUICAN OTTEU. —{Lutva Canaclensis.) 
of the wings, and from these the delicate, double, 
nearly transparent, skin which forms the wings 
extends to the next finger, and the next, and 
then it spreads out from the last finger on each 
side to the body, the legs, and 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¬ 
est net-work, like a spider’s web. The ears are, 
proportionally, very large, and directly in front 
of each there is a long, stiff, point, called the an¬ 
terior lobe of the car, which seems to have been 
placed there to prevent insects lodging in the 
cars, 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 
Avas made measured 
nine inches from tip 
to tip of the wings, 
and weighed only 
80 grains—that is, it 
would take more 
than eighty similar 
ones to weigh a 
pound. When at 
rest, bats fold their 
“ wings” very close- 
and suspend 
themselves by their 
little hooked thumbs. 
In wdnter, 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 QtiQX, —{Lutra Canadensis.) 
The Otter produces the most valuable fur of 
any animal noAV 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, it is 
now' becoming ex¬ 
ceedingly scarce. 
Among our native 
furs the skins of 
the beaver, if fine, 
are alone superior 
to those of the ot¬ 
ter. It is an ani¬ 
mal of consider¬ 
able size, weigh¬ 
ing often from 20 
to 25 pounds, and 
measuring three 
to four feet in 
length, exclusive 
of the tail, wdiich 
is 15 to 18 inches 
long. The otter 
lives altogether 
upon fish, which it takes in the w'ater with great 
adroitness. It possesses great intelligence, and is 
capable of very thorough domestication, and it is 
probable that, like its European congener, {Lutra 
mlgaris,) 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 
India is used, as is learned from the journals of 
rnn little ukown bat. — (Ve.'^pertilio suOululus.) 
