A hand-book to the British mammalia / by R. Lydekker.

  • Richard Lydekker
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A hand-book to the British mammalia / by R. Lydekker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the amount of earth-movements which it must necessarily have entailed. Although we are averse to calling in such movements unnecessarily, we confess that, in our opinion, his theory does not account for the poverty of the Mammalian fauna of Ireland as compared with that of the rest of Britain in the perfect manner in which that of Mr. Wallace does; and until this is done we prefer to incline towards the latter, which, it must be remembered, is to a considerable extent supported by the submerged forests and ancient deserted river-channels of Eng- land. Whether, however, the one theory or the other of the re- population of England be adopted, we have to remember that the present impoverished Mammalian fauna of Britain, as com- pared with the Continent, is due to the direct or indirect action of the Glacial period, the effects of which have been so far-reaching both on inanimate and animate nature in the Northern Hemisphere. THE BATS. ORDER CHIROPTERA. The special modification of the bones of the fore-limb for the purpose of flight, coupled with the presence of a leathery flying-membrane extending from the front of the fore-limb, connecting together the toes, or fingers, of the same, then joining the hind-limbs, and likewise connecting together the two latter, with or without the intervention of the tail, at once serves to distinguish sharply the Bats from all other members of the Mammalian class. They are likewise the only Mammals endowed with the power of true flight, like birds; the long flying leaps of the Flying Squirrels and the Flying Phalangers being nothing more than a prolongation of an ordinary leap by the aid of a parachute-like expansion of the skin of the flanks, without any special modification or elongation of the bones of the fore-limbs. Referring in some detail to the structure of the fore-limb,
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