THE LIVING WORLD. 
moss-nosed bat (Sj ynotus barbastellus ). 
454 
solid as those of mammals, certainly they are not so light, nor is the hollow 
so great, as are the bones in birds. The next change is to be noted m the 
month, which has lost the beak destitute of teeth, and instead the bat has 
received a provision that enables it to seize its prey in a different manner. The 
molar teeth, however, do not appear, as the creature has not yet developed into- 
a mammal so highly organized. 
The keeled breast of the bird has 
disappeared and the fulness which 
the breast-bone supplied is par¬ 
tially retained by the substitution 
of ribs, to which fore-legs are at¬ 
tached, followed by the appear¬ 
ance of mammae, the only distinct 
feature which binds this singular 
creature to the mammalian order. 
I do not mean bj’’ the above 
reasoning that the changes, as de¬ 
scribed, have actually taken place, 
but rather to indicate the proba¬ 
bilities, and what seems to be jus¬ 
tified by the analogy that exists,, 
showing the correspondence the bat occupies between birds and mammals. 
The bat is a common and by no means pleasant sight, for even when harm¬ 
less there is something uncanny about its appearance and restless flight. A 
wise man once said that “ all that is unknown is accepted as great or terrible, 
and this is certainly true of the harmless species of bat which flies about our 
rooms. The bat , to enable it to 
fly, has a long fore-arm and 
fingers united by a membrane 
which extends back to the hind 
feet, which are so constructed as 
to bend backwards and thus keep 
its sail unfurled. More than four 
hundred species of bats have been 
distinguished, so it is easy to see 
that there is room for the greatest 
variety of habits. Doubtless the 
popular fear of the bat has been 
increased by the hoary antiquity 
of the superstitions which have 
gathered about it and which like a 
great snow-ball-, ever increase as 
they roll along. The Jews classed 
the bat among unclean animals (and this with no reference to the parasites 
which constantly attend it), and the 'sanction of religion thus lent to popular 
superstition must, of itself, have ruined the reputation of the creature. The 
Greek mythology made the bat one of the symbols of the Queen of the 
Plutonian World, possibly from its choosing the dusk for an appearance so 
mysterious that the creature seemed to spring out of empty space. The Greek 
early morning bat (Vesperugo noctula). 
