Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-04-14
Science

reflex currents Of air. Three species only Of
bats are known to be common all over North
America, the silver-haired, the hoary and the
red bat. Each species is migratory. Merriam
Classics American bats, excepting those the
habits of which have been modified by prox-
unity to humans, az cave dwelling or tree
dwelling, according to the places in which
they spend the day Hoary bats migrate at
least as far south as the Bermudas, crossing
600 miles Of ocean, or as Miller thinks fly
from Cape Cod by the 700-mile route
DR.. w. D. Matthew points out that bats
are easily able to cross ocean barriers, be-
cause Of the plain fact that they have done
so frequently. have found red bats in ever
green trees in Winter and never In caves, but
Seton asserts that while they roost in trees
in Manitoba, they gather in vast numbers in
caves Of the South for Information. Mearns
records all day migratory flights Of red bats,
each flock of one sex. It is not gen
orally realized that bats possess powers Of
flight superior to those of many birds This
may be inferred from the fact that a red
bat has been known to catch flies in the air,
while hurdcned with young that together
weighed more than she did.
Most California bats catch and deyour
prey on the wing. They bite off and reject the
hard parts of insects, and hence it is difficult
to Identify the species Of insects in tho
stomach. One species brings the larger insects
to its roost and devours them while hanging
head down. At least two species Of British
bats, according to Barrett Hamilton hold the
tail curved beneath them In fight thrustng
struggling insects in the sac formed until
they get a firm grip upon them The
tail curving must be due to an unusually far
back center of gravity. In the Autumn bats
have become very fat. ready for migration or
Information. Even the bats on the wing all Of
the year rely on this stored fat to balance a
scarcity Of insects. Buildings are readily
cleared Of colonies Of bats by boarding up
their entrance places at night when they are
on the wing.
Bats are AS valuable to humans as insec-
tvOrous birds
They are especially important in keeping
IN check nocturnal insects, especially disease
carriers
Campbell at Mtchel's Lake. Texas found
that 90 per cent of the food Of bats there con-
sisted OF maarial carrier mosquitoes fIe adj.
rocated erecting roosts in all parts Of the
country where mosquitoes are pestiferolls.
San Antonio responded by erecting a roost
and protecting bats by law The Hudson Bav
Company however protected bats as far back
as 1899, to enable them to exterminate the in
sect Dermestes, which abounded in fur estab
lishmcns.
TT bat has his cheek provided with sharp
crsp teeth for piercing beetles, ETC.. it is an
insect eater. If it has modified front teeth
Tor piercing skins OF animals. it is blood
sucker or vampire IF the crowns of the cheek
teeth are smooth and grooved, it is a fruit
eater Some species of bats exist at high alti.
tudes. Grinnell found the TETON bat at $500
feet above the sea in the San Bernardino
Mountains and the High Sierra Bat at 1O.35O
feet. Bats are powerful swimmers They have
TO be. Muscallonge pickerel. salmon etc. cap
turc many Of them as they come down to the
surface forinsects. They are difficult to shoot
because of swift erratic flight; perhaps also
having some ability to dodge shot when
warned by an approaching air wave Most
female bats have two mammae The females
of the genus Nycters have four mammae
lbrcasts). Bats with two mammae may pro-
dnce one or two young with four mammae,
up to four young.