of the
fortifications, in the roofs of the bungalows, and the ruins of every
temple and building. At sunset they are seen issuing from their diurnal
retreats to roam through the twilight in search of crepuscular insects,
and as night approaches and the lights in the rooms attract the
night-flying lepidoptera, the bats sweep round the dinner-table and
carry off their tiny prey within the glitter of the lamps. Including the
frugivorous section about sixteen species have been identified in
Ceylon; and remarkable varieties of two of these are peculiar to the
island. The colours of some of them are as brilliant as the plumage of a
bird, bright yellow, deep orange, and a rich ferruginous brown inclining
to red.[1]

[Footnote 1:
Rhinolophus affinis? _var_. rubidus, _Kelaart_.
Hipposideros murinus, _var_. fulvus, _Kelaart_.
Hipposideros speoris, _var_. aureus, _Kelaart_.
Kerivoula picta, _Pallas_.
Scotophilus Heathii, _Horsf_.]

But of all the bats, the most conspicuous from its size and numbers,
and the most interesting from its habits, is the rousette of
Ceylon[1];--the "flying fox," as it is called by Europeans, from the
similarity to that animal in its head and ears, its bright eyes, and
intelligent little face. In its aspect it has nothing of the
disagreeable and repulsive look so common amongst the ordinary
vespertilionidae; it likewise differs from them in the want of the
nose-leaf, as well as of the tail. In the absence of the latter, its
flight is directed by means of a membrane attached to the inner side
of each of the hind legs, and kept distended at the lower extremity by
a projecting bone, just as a fore-and-aft sail is distended by a
"gaff."

[Footnote 1: Pteropus Edwardsii, _Geoff_.]

[Illustration: FLYING FOXES.]

In size the body measures from ten to twelve inches in length, but the
arms are prolonged, and especially the metacarpal bones and phalanges of
the four fingers over which the leathery wings are distended, till the
alar expanse measures between four and five feet. Whilst the function of
these metamorphosed limbs in sustaining flight entitles them to the
designation of "wings," they are endowed with another faculty, the
existence of which essentially distinguishes them from the feathery
wings of a bird, and vindicates the appropriateness of the term
_Cheiro-ptera_[1], or "winged hands," by which the bats are designated.
Over the entire surface of the thin membrane of which they are f