THE BATS. 35

it should be added, making allowance for proportion, the
full grown male bat, of the largest species, rarely exceeding
twelve inches in height from head to foot. Bats’ wings are
highly nervous and sensitive, so much so as to render their
owners almost independent of sight. Besides being “well
adapted for flight,” says Dr. Percival Wright, “they are still
capable in a small measure of seizing, differing thus from
the anterior limbs of Birds.”

Bats. Dr. Dobson divides the order Chetroptera into
two sub-orders: I, The Great Bats and II, The Smaller Bats.
Of these there are numerous genera and a large number of
species. THE GreaT Bats abound in the tropical and sub-
tropical regions of the East, where they live on fruit, and
from this circumstance are classified as “fruit-eating bats,”
though they are sometimes called “ flying-foxes.” The largest
of these inhabit Sumatra and Java, living in large companies,
sleeping by day and foraging by night. A large tree serves
them for a sleeping-chamber, where, suspending themselves
head downwards from the branches, they wrap their wings
about them in lieu of blankets and sleep out the sunshine.
After sunset they gradually awake and proceed to ravage
any fruit preserves which may be within reach, committing
serious depredations while the owners outsleep the moon.
According to Mr. Francis Day, “they do very great injury
to cocoa-nut plantations and mangoe gardens.” “Their
habits,” says Mr. Day, “are very intemperate, and they often
pass the night drinking the toddy from the chatties in the
cocoa-nut trees, which results either in their returning home
in the early morning in a state of extreme and riotous
intoxication, or in being found the next day at the foot of
the trees, sleeping off the effects of their midnight debauch.”
Tur SMALLER Bats include several families, numerous genera,
and a large number of species to be found in almost all
parts of the world. These bats are chiefly insect-eaters,
though included among them are the vampire bats and the