282 
BATS. 
when it can use both its claws, teeth, and prehensile tail to aid its movements. 
The bat, on the other hand, had to seek its living in the empty air, pursuing its 
prey with the swiftness of a swallow, “ and it seemed wonderful to me,” writes 
Mr. Hudson, “ that she should have been able to carry about that great burden 
with her on one pair of wings, and withal to be active enough to supply herself 
and her young with food. In the end I released her, and saw her fly away 
among the trees, after which I put back the two young bats in the place I 
had taken them from, among the thick-clustering foliage of a small acacia tree. 
When set free they began to work their way upwards through the leaves and 
slender twigs in the most adroit manner, catching a twig with their teeth, then 
embracing a whole cluster of leaves with their wings, just as a person would take 
up a quantity of loose clothes and hold them tightly by pressing them against the 
chest. The body would then emerge above the clasped leaves, and a higher twig 
would be caught by the teeth, and so on successively, until they had got as high as 
they wished, when they proceeded to hook themselves to a twig and assume the 
inverted position side by side; after which, one drew in its head and went to sleep, 
while the other began licking the end of its wing, where my finger and thumb had 
pressed the delicate membrane. Later in the day I attempted to feed them with 
some small insects, but they rejected my friendly attentions in the most unmis¬ 
takable manner, snapping viciously at me every time I approached them. In the 
evening I stationed myself close to the tree, and presently had the satisfaction of 
seeing the mother return, flying straight to the spot where I had taken her, and in 
a few minutes she was away again and over the trees with her twins.” 
As the narrator well remarks, this incident is noteworthy not only as a touching 
instance of parental affection, but likewise for the circumstance that the young 
bats, which up to the time of their capture had existed in a kind of parasitical 
condition, when thrown upon the world were quite capable of taking care of them¬ 
selves. In other Mammals born in a helpless state, the power of accommodating 
themselves to new conditions, and the instinct of self-preservation, are acquired 
gradually, whereas in these young bats they were assumed in a moment. 
The Tube-Nosed Bats. 
Genus Harpyiocephalus. 
The production of the nostrils into a pair of tubes has already been noticed as 
distinctive of a genus of fruit-bats (p. 259), and it is, to say the least, remarkable to 
find the same feature reappearing in a less marked degree in a group of insectivor¬ 
ous bats belonging to the Vespertilionidcv. These tube-nosed bats, constituting the 
genus Harpyiocephalus, are restricted to Tibet, India, Ceylon, and the Malay 
Archipelago, and Japan, where they always inhabit hilly districts. They are 
sufficiently distinguished at a glance from all the other insect-eating bats by their 
divergent tube-like nostrils, of which the apertures are circular. It may, however, 
be added that their teeth are 34 in number, of which there are on each side § 
incisors, a single canine, and 4 cheek-teeth. Moreover, the upper surface of the 
membrane between the hind legs is characterised by its thick covering of hair. 
