Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1914-01-16
seen IN BAT WORLD
Habits and Oddities Of Little
Night Creatures.
10 Not a Bird, but . Mammal, With q
Great Difference From the ord.
,1's nary Four-Lsooed Land
Going Type.

OF all the more common animals
about us the bat is probably the least
we'll known to the average man, q
writer in the Scientific American
states. This Is because of it's noctur-
nal habits and the consequent Difficult
ty in observing It. Indeed, all that
most people seem to know about bats
is that they fly at night and are Jaw.
full things to get into your hair" As
a matter OF fact. there Is no authentic
instance of bats ever. alighting upon
a woman's hair, and they are no more
in the habit OF doing SO than are hum
ming birds. %4 a@. gs.H.
The fact is, very little is known
concerning the habits of bats and
much remains to be found out about
them. The order comprises some $50
species, but 1t is safe to say that
three.fourths Of them are known only
by their dry skins and skulls. They
exhibit differences in form that are
fairly bewildering. They range all
the way from the beautiful to the fan
tastic and hideous.i The great ma
jority, however, are useful to man In
destroying insects which. without the
aid of birds and beasts. would very
soon overwhelm. him. The harmful
species are those which destroy fruit
and few which Asuck the blood Of
domestic animals.
The bat has figured in folklore from
the earliest times. Bats are supposed
to have given the Latin poet Virgil
the idea of harpies-creatures that
had the faces Of women and the wings
and claws Of birds. The Greeks had
a story about the two daughters Of
certain hero who. on account of their
obstinacy, were changed by the gods
into bats. The Saxons called the bat
the "rere-mouse." The word comes
from ~hreran, to. move, and mus, a
mouse-the mouse that moves the
air with its wings. The word Is now
used only in heraldry as signifying a
bat on a coat Of arms. You may hear
country people speak of the filter
mouse, and the word has been used
sometimes in poetry, as for instance:
And giddy flittermice with leather
wings"
- The Chinese speak of the bat as
the heavenly rat. the fairy rat, the
flying rat or the night swallow. Their
Ideas of the animal are very odd;
they believe that 1t flies head down.
ward because it's brain Is so heavy,
and that 1t lives to very great age
because 1t has the habit of swallow
ing it's breath. They also take the
bat as their emblem of happiness. A
symbol consisting of five bats Is
called wee fun, or the Ave happi-
nesses" which every one ID supposed
to desire; they are wealth, health.
goodness. long life and a y peaceful
death. In China, II you wish your
guest good luck, graceful way OF
doing so is to have five bats depicted
on the bottom of his teacur-
The bat is not bird but a mammal,
with almost as wide departure from
the ordinary four-legged, lard-gofng
type as is a whale of manatee, Its
hand reveals an extreme degree OF
what is called specialization" For
mammal the arms are unusual length.
The bones of the fingers are enor-
mously extended and connected with
hairless skin as flexible as India rub
Der to form a wing for flight. This
wing membrane is extended on up the
arm to the body and the legs, and Is
continued between the legs and tail,
where it forms supporting para
chute in fight. The thumb OF hat
is very short and free, and It's nail Is
developed as a hooked claw, by the
aid of which the creature can com
fortably climb about or support ''"e'r:
The favorite position of a bat at rest
is hanging by its feet, head down.
ward.
One of the strangest characteristics
about the bat Is that 1t canpo! ny
from the ground. When !t%f5nds' itself
upon terra frma 1t crawls painfully 10
some wall or tree and, clamber1ng up
to a suitable elevation, launches IL
self into the air. Curiously enough
too, it accomplishes this climbing
trick upside down, holding Oh win
one of it's hinder hooks while II
reaches up and lays hold Of the s5ght'
est Inequality with the other IN tnls
way it makes rapid progress anu
f1inging itself into the air, takes n1en''
Once upon the wing all awkwardness
of the bat disappears as II by mas'o'