The particular muscles of the hand, arm, and shoulder which characterise the Monkeys, and which have been described in the former chapters, are found in the Lemuroids; and Murie and Mivart have already shown that in the Lemuroids the muscles agree mainly with those of Monkeys, and others bear certain resemblances to those of animals lower in the scale. Moreover, the Lemurs possess a unique band of fleshy fibres, which stretch between the shin-bone and the adjoining small bone of the leg, which would seem to serve in aiding the turning of the limb (the rotator fibulæ).
JAMES MURIE.
P. MARTIN DUNCAN.
MARSH BAT. (One-half natural size.)
CHIROPTERA, OR WING-HANDED ANIMALS.
THE BATS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.—CLASSIFICATION OF BATS.—THE FRUIT-EATING BATS.
One of Æsop’s Fables—Opinions of the Ancients regarding Bats—Scaliger’s Statement of the Puzzle—Opinions of the Middle Ages—The True Position of the Bats—The Wing of the Bat—General Structure: The Breast-bone, Arms, Fingers, “Wing-membrane,” Wings, Skull, Ribs, Pelvis, Legs—In Repose—Walking—The Teats—Organs of the Senses—“Blind as a Bat”—The Eyes—Spallanzani’s Experiments—The Bat’s Power of Directing its Flight in the Darkest Places—Their Food—In Winter-Quarters—A Battue of Bats—[FRUGIVOROUS AND INSECTIVOROUS BATS]