at of vision, as in insects,
touch is superadded, in its most sensitive development, to that of
sight. It is probable that the noseleaf, which forms an extended
screen stretched behind the nostrils in some of the bats, may be
intended by nature to facilitate the collection and conduction of
odours, just as the vast expansion of the shell of the ear in the same
family is designed to assist in the collection of sounds--and thus to
supplement their vision when in pursuit of prey in the dusk by the
superior sensitiveness of the organs of hearing and smell.

One tiny little bat, not much larger than the humble
bee[1], and of a glossy black colour, is sometimes to be seen about
Colombo. It is so familiar and gentle that it will alight on the cloth
during dinner, and manifests so little alarm that it seldom makes any
effort to escape before a wine glass can be inverted to secure it.

[Footnote 1: It is a _very_ small Singhalese variety of
Scotophilus Coromandelicus, _F. Cuv._]

Although not strictly in order, this seems not an inappropriate place
to notice one of the most curious peculiarities connected with the
bats--their singular parasite, the Nycteribia.[1] On cursory
observation this creature appears to have neither head, antennae, eyes,
nor mouth; and the earlier observers of its structure satisfied
themselves that the place of the latter was supplied by a cylindrical
sucker, which, being placed between the shoulders, the insect had no
option but to turn on its back to feed. Another anomaly was thought to
compensate for this apparent inconvenience;--its three pairs of legs,
armed with claws, are so arranged that they seem to be equally
distributed over its upper and under sides, the creature being thus
enabled to use them like hands, and to grasp the strong hairs above it
while extracting its nourishment.

[Footnote 1: This extraordinary creature had formerly been discovered
only on a few European bats. Joinville figured one which he found on
the large roussette (the flying-fox), and says he had seen another on
a bat of the same family. Dr. Templeton observed them in Ceylon in
great abundance on the fur of the _Scotophilus Coromandelicus_,
and they will, no doubt, be found on many others.]

It moves, in fact, by rolling itself rapidly along, rotating like a
wheel on the extremities of its spokes, or like the clown in a
pantomime, hurling himself forward on hands and feet alternately. Its
celerity is so great that C