BAT

This article appears in Volume V03, Page 506 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BAR-BEC

BAT ,1 a name for any member of the zoological order

Chiroptera

CHIROPTERA (Greek for " hand-wings ")

(q.v.). Bats are insectivorous animals modified for flight,
i M. E. bakke, the

change

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

to " bat " having apparently been influenced by Lat. batta, blatta, moth. The word is thus distinct from the other common

term

TERM

" bat," the implement for striking, which is probably connected with Fr. battre, though a Celtic or simply onomatopoetic origin has been suggested.with slight powers of progression on the ground; the patagium or "flying-membrane" of some squirrels and of Galeopithecus (q.v.) probably indicates the way in which the modification. was effected. They are distributed throughout the world, but are most abundant in the tropics and the warmer parts of the temperate zones; within these limits the largest forms occur. There is

great

GREAT

variation in size; the Malay "flying-fox " (Pteropus edulis)

measures

MEASURES

about a foot in the head and

body

BODY

, and has a wing-spread of 5 ft.; while in the smaller forms the head and

body

BODY

may be only about 2 in., and the wing-spread no more than a foot. The coloration is generally sombre, but to this there are exceptions; the fruit-bats are brownish yellow or russet on the under surface; two

South

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

American species are white; Blainville's chin-leafed bat is

bright

BRIGHT, JOHN (1811-188g)
BRIGHT, SIR CHARLES TILSTON

orange; and the Indian painted bat (Cerivoula pieta) with its deep orange dress, spotted with black on the wing-membranes, has reminded observers of a large butterfly. In habits bats are social, non, turnal and crepuscular; the

insect

INSECT

-eating species feed on the wing, in winter in the temperate regions they migrate to a warmer climate, or hibernate, as do the British bats. The sense-organs are highly developed; the wing-membranes are exceedingly sensitive; the nose-

leaf

LEAF (O. Eng. leaf, cf. Dutch loof, Ger. Laub, Swed. lof, &c.; possibly to be referred to the root seen in Gr. Ma-eta, to peel, strip)

is also an organ of perception, and the external ear is specially modified to receive sound= waves. Most bats are

insect

INSECT

-eaters, but the tropical " flying foxes " or fox-bats of the Old World live on fruit; some are blood-suckers, and two feed on small fish. Twelve species are British, among which are the pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus, or P. pipistrellus), the long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus), the noctule (Pipistrellus [Pterygistesl noctulus) the greater and lesser horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum and R. hipposiderus), &c. (See FLYING-Fox and VAMPIRE.)

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