Natural History of Quadrupeds (Volume 14) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1834. Excerpt: ... distance from the sea and thus tamed, was kept in a vessel full of salt and water, which it would leave for the purpose of crawling about the house, and even sometimes approaching the fire. Though taken out to sea every day and thrown in from a boat, it would invariably swim after its master, and allow itself to be retaken without making any attempt to escape. In this way it lived for some time, and died in consequence of ill usage. THE BAT. As the seal appears to form the connecting link between the quadrupeds dwelling on the earth and the inhabitants of the deep, so the bat seems to unite them with the tribes that wing the air. In general figure the bat resembles the mouse; but it is furnished with wings, which the animal can stretch when it chooses to fly, and fold up into a small space when it is at rest. The bat's wings are formed of delicate membranes, like thin leather, stretched upon the bones, which correspond with the fore-leg in quadrupeds. So far they resemble those of birds, but they differ in the materials of which they are composed, and in the similitude of the bones to those of the human hand. They have, what is peculiar to themselves, a hooklike process attached to the bone of the wing, by which they lay hold and support themselves upon the cornices of buildings, and so far employ their wings as hands. These wings, when extended, are of great length. In the larger species, found in some parts of India, Africa, and South America, celebrated under the name of vampyre, they often measure five feet; and Sir Hans Sloane was in possession of a specimen, brought from Sumatra, the wings of which measured seven feet. As, however, the bat itself is not rendered buoyant by any of the means employed in the internal structure of birds, and as its wing...