Parit ut quadrupedia, non ova, sed pullos viventes. The bat is an ignoble creature, whose name is taken from the word for evening. They are equipped with wings, but at the same time they are quadrupeds. They are provided with teeth, in this respect differing generally from other birds. As a quadruped, too, the female brings forth her young alive and not in the oval stage.
Bats fly in the air like birds but prefer to be shrouded in the dusk of evening.
In flight they do not use the support of wings but rely on their webbed feet which serve as wings, both as a balance and as a means of propulsion. These common creatures have this faculty, too, of adhering one to another, assuming any position like a pendant bunch of grapes, so that, if the lowest in place gives way they all fall apart. Hope this helps somewhat, Luuk Prof. dr. Houwen Englisches Seminar Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum Universitaetsstr. Dear all, Does anyone know anything about what people thought about bats in the Middle Ages - except what was written down in bestiaries.