TEETH OF NEW ZEALANDSHORT-TAILED BAT.(From theProc.Zool. Soc.)THUMB AND FOOT OF NEW ZEALANDSHORT-TAILED BAT.(From theProceedings of the Zoological Society.)
TEETH OF NEW ZEALANDSHORT-TAILED BAT.(From theProc.Zool. Soc.)
TEETH OF NEW ZEALANDSHORT-TAILED BAT.(From theProc.Zool. Soc.)
THUMB AND FOOT OF NEW ZEALANDSHORT-TAILED BAT.(From theProceedings of the Zoological Society.)
THUMB AND FOOT OF NEW ZEALANDSHORT-TAILED BAT.(From theProceedings of the Zoological Society.)
In many respects the New Zealand Short-tailed Bat is exceedingly interesting to the zoologist. In its structure it presents striking resemblances to species belonging to several groups, whilst its own personal peculiarities are very remarkable. These are noticed by Mr. Dobson, from whose valuable writings we have so often had occasion to quote, in a short paper read before the Zoological Society in 1876. He finds that the peculiar leathery and wrinkled portions of the membranes are so arranged that when the wings are folded—which they are in a very complicated manner, and so as to pack away into the smallest possible space—each wing is “tucked in beneath the thickened portion of the wing-membrane margining the fore-arm and side of the body, which sheathes and completely conceals the whole wing. The posterior half of the interfemoral membrane, from the point where the tail perforates it, is rolled upwards and forwards beneath the leathery anterior half.” In this way the more membranous parts of the wings are protected, as Mr. Dobson remarks, precisely in the same way that the delicate wings of the Beetles and Bugs are sheltered in repose beneath the hardened elytra. “With the wings and interfemoral membranes thus encased,” he adds, “this species is the most quadrupedal of Bats;” and the structure of the limbs indicates that all these arrangements really tend to adapt this animal for progression on all-fours. The thumb is long, and armed with a large, sharp claw, which is remarkable among Bats for having a small sharp tooth near the base, in its concave side, a structure which, from the analogy of a species of Chameleon in which the same thing occurs, is regarded by Mr. Dobson as greatly increasing the clinging power ofthe animal. The hind limbs are short and stout, and the feet remarkably large, and their whole lower surface, including that of the toes, is covered with a soft, loose, deeply-wrinkled skin, that of each toe showing a strong central groove with short grooves at right angles to it, very much after the pattern seen in some Geckos or Wall Lizards. This loose, wrinkled skin is also continued along the flattened lower surface of the ankle and leg. “All these peculiarities of structure,” says Mr. Dobson, “must accompany some corresponding peculiarities in the habits of this species.... I have no doubt that the denticle at the base of the claw inMystacina tuberculatacompensates that species exceptionally for the imperfect condition of the fore-limbs as organs of prehension; and this, taken into consideration with the peculiar manner in which the wings are protected from injury when not employed in flying, and with the manifestly adhesive nature of the sole of the foot and inferior surface of the legs, leads me to believe that this species hunts for its insect food, not only in the air, but also on the branches and leaves of trees, among which its peculiarities of structure most probably enable it to walk about with security and ease.” This and the Brown Pig Bat (Thyroptera tricolor), already described (p. 310), may be regarded as more especially adapted for climbing than any other members of the order Chiroptera.
NEW ZEALAND SHORT-TAILED BAT. (From theProceedings of the Zoological Society.)
NEW ZEALAND SHORT-TAILED BAT. (From theProceedings of the Zoological Society.)