ifts, not being able to find out the ufe of particular parts in feveral animals, have rather ridiculed the attempt to discover for what purpofe they are defigned: I am perfuaded, however, that this arifes from ignorance of the habits of the animal (which is the interefting part of natural history); nor is it lefs true, becaufe it hath been often advanced, that nature does nothing in vain.

Buffon makes but one article of the rein and elk; he alfo obferves, that when the latitude begins to be too warm for the former, the elks are firft to be difcovered. North America furnishes, however, an exception to this obfervation, because reins are found in Newfoundland, 50° N. lat. and the Hudfon's-bay company have a noble specimen of elk's horns in their hall, which was fent them from their forts, fome of which are nine degrees to the northward; at the fame time that the fituation is so much more inland, and confequently from that circumftance alfo the temperature more cold than might be expected, merely from the fort's being nine degrees nearer to the pole. On the other hand brand Ides met with a great many reins not far from Nezzinfkoi, which is only in N. lat. 50. at no great distance from the Eaftern Ocean.

I fhall now mention two or three particulars from Leemius, with regard to the rein, which have not been noticed by other naturalifts.

They are extravagantly fond of human urine, and lick up the fnow with the greatest avidity when the upper part hath been stained by it; poffibly, however, the opening

the way to their favourite lichen. may be in part the occafion of their immediately finding out fuch spots.

We have the fame authority for their killing a vast number of mice, which are called in the Lapland language Godde Saepaw, and Lemæner in the Norwegian. As their make, however, is not defcribed, and as I can find no names which bear the leaft affinity in the Fauna Suecica, it is impoffible to fettle the fpecies. Poffibly alfo the reins only use this food when they can procure no other; it is for the fame reafon that the Lapland gulls are faid likewife to feed on mice, and the crows to tear the linen which is hung to dry. Leemius, in other parts of his work, mentions, that they devour the heads of thefe mice only, with the greatest avidity; which alfo may arife from want of other food, as it is believed that no other quadruped (which chews the cud) deftroys animals for the purpose of fubfiftence.

All defcribers of the rein have taken notice of the cracking noife which they make when they move their legs, which Hoffberg attributes to the animals feparating and afterwards bringing together the divifions of their hoof, but he does not affign the cause of the reins fo doing, which I conceive to be the following:

The rein inhabits a country which is covered with fnow for great part of the year; the hoof therefore of this quadruped is moft admirably adapted to the furface which it is moft commonly to tread.

The under part is entirely covered with hair, in the fame man

ner

ner that the claw of the Ptarmigaw is with feathery briftles, which is almoft the only bird that can endure the rigour of the fame cli

mate.

The hoof, however, is not only thus protected; the fame neceffity which obliges the Laplanders to ufe fnow fhoes makes the extraordinary width of the rein's hoof to be equally convenient in paffing over fnow, as it prevents their finking too, deep, which they would be fubject to eternally, did the weight of their body reft only on a small point.

This quadruped hath therefore an instinct to use a hoof of fuch a form in a still more advantageous manner, by feparating it when the hoof is to touch the ground, fo as to cover a larger furface of fnow. The inftant, however, the leg of the animal is raised, the width of the foot becomes inconvenient, especially when it is going against the wind; the hoof, therefore, is then immediately contracted, and the collifion of the parts occafions the fnapping, which is heard upon every motion of the rein.

Another reason, poffibly, for this noife, may arife from Lapland's being not only covered with fnow great part of the year, but alfo for fome time under a perpetual night; the rein is a gregarious animal, and often obliged to go a great way for fuftenance, probably therefore the cracking which they perpetually make, may ferve to keep them together when the weather is remarkably dark. Bells round fheep are known to be very convenient for the fame purpose, when they graze upon a wide extended down.

Leemius mentions another very fingular circumftance with regard to the Lapland wolves; which is, that, when they have killed the rein, they always place the carcafe with the head towards the east, and that the skeleton's are conftantly found in fuch pofition.This fact, indeed, is fo extraordinary, that it should not be too lightly credited; animals, however, have undoubtedly their reafon for chufing or declining certain afpects: the martin, for example, feldom builds its neft against the south.

Though I have stated so many particulars from this writer, not only because he is the latest naturalift who hath described the rein, but because he refided ten years in Finmark; yet I cannot but take notice of one paffage in his work, in which I conceive he muft be entirely mistaken.

Leemius affirms, in his ninth chapter, that the reins lose their horns in the fpring, which is not only contradicted by what Hoffberg and Buffon have advanced, but by the fact, for Mr. Heyde's buck dropt his horns for two fucceffive winters, but resumed them in the fpring. In one of thefe years they continued to be no more than ftumps till the 30th of January, when they began to fhoot; on the 24th of February they were five or fix inches high, covered with a deep pile of velvet.

At the fame time Leemius not only afferts this to happen otherwife, but the engravings which accompany his work reprefent the deer amongst fnow with their horns on.

In juftice to Leemius, however, I fhould add, that though Hoffberg

berg and Buffon take notice that the rein lofes his horns at the approach of winter, yet other naturalifts have fuppofed that they were of ufe in removing the fnow which covers the lichen they are faid to be fo fond of, and which is utterly inconfiftent with this quadruped being deprived of them during the winter. Leemius indeed exprefsly informs us, that they procure the lichen by means of their feet.

As I have very frequently vifited Mr. Heyde's rein, I fhall now mention fome few particulars I happened to obferve myself with regard to this quadruped, which is fo feldom to be feen to the fouthward of the Baltic.

This animal was kept in a clofe of about an acre, the grafs of which was rich; and he conftantly fed upon it during the whole year, though he was much fonder of the lichen, which was fent over from Norway: by holding a little of it in my hand, I could at any time bring him to me. No animal, indeed, could be better humoured, as he would even permit his antlers to be handled when the blood veffels were moft turgid. He like wife permitted me to meafure his height, which was three feet two inches and a half, being in his fixth year, and of full growth. Now Leemius obferves, that the doe is not fo large as the buck; and I have measured the fpecimen of a doe-rein, lately fent to the Royal Society from Hudfon's-bay, which is about three feet in height. I ftate this comparison, because it makes me doubt with regard to the juftnefs of an obfervation of M. de Buffon, who (in his article Rein-deer) fuppofes that all Ame

rican animals are lefs than the fame fpecies in other parts of the globe. Mr. Pennant alfo takes notice, that the American elk is larger than the European.

I once faw this rein in Mr. Heyde's garden, where there was a confiderable variety of flowering fhrubs and foreft-trees, all of which he browzed upon except the elder; he also drank a great deal of water out of a pond.

I have therefore little doubt but that this quadruped will live without the Lapland lichen, to which it only hath, perhaps, recourfe, because there is in those latitudes no other fuftenance during the winter.

I have, indeed, procured fome of this lichen, which I have tafted, and conceive from thence it may be a nourishing food either to man or beast; it is, however, by no means peculiar to Lapland, as we have much of the fame on our own heaths. In one respect, in-, deed, the rein fares better in England than in Lapland, as Hoffberg and all other naturalists speak much of its fuffering from an infect, which they term the Oeftrus Tarandi. We have, perhaps, the fame gad-fly in England, but they are not fo numerous, and Mr. Heyde's rein did not seem to feel much inconvenience from this perfecution.

Le Brun obferves, that the rein carries his head fo high, that the horns touch the back; and it is not therefore improbable that thefe antlers may be given them as a means of removing these very troublesome infects.

The fame traveller takes notice, that the chiefs of the Samoieds have fometimes fix or eight of

them

them to draw their traineaus, and that they never sweat, notwithftanding their being often much preffed, but pant with their tongues out, just as grey-hounds do after a fevere courfe.

Leemius alfo informs us, that after being hard driven they lofe their fight frequently for three or four days.

I have before obferved, that Mr. Heyde's buck rein was very good humoured; poffibly, how. ever, if he had been harneffed, I fhould not have found him fo tractable, for on account of its greater docility, a gelt rein bears a much better price in Lapland; and another caufe for the advanced value is, that the operation being performed but aukwardly, the owners frequently lose them: for the fame reason the poorer Laplanders only harnefs the doe.

other friend or ally, and they muft naturally be dreaded by moths or other infects of the night, as much as hawks are the terror of our fmaller birds; nature is one perpetual scene of warfare, for the fake of food, and bats again become the prey of owls.

A friend of mine kept one for ten days, and was much amused with its manner of taking flies, on which it chiefly lived: Linnæus hath claffed it with his primates, at the head of which stands Man: a more natural arrangement, perhaps, might have exalted this animal to the order of angels, as they are depicted with wings as well as teats.

I never met with any one who had tafted a bat: and, indeed, with us they are fo diminutive, that the morfel fhould be as delicate as it is small. In the island of Mauritius, however, where they are very large, the feamen

THE

HE bat is fo disagreeable an animal, that we are generally defirous of avoiding it rather than examining into its habits; the confequence of which averfion is, that we are more ignorant with regard to its natural history, than perhaps of any other animal of the fame fize.

Hideous as it may appear to our eye, yet if we are to believe Johnfon (who is a writer of merit) there is a perpetual alliance between them and pigeons, infomuch, that if the head of a bat is fixed upon the top of a pigeonhoufe, the pigeons will never leave it. I profefs, however, that I cannot hear this animal hath any

are innumerable, and fome as large as gofhawks, and the feamen cafe them as rabbits; they hang in fwarms on the boughs of the trees, by claws fixed at the extreme part of their wings, and their monkey faces turned downwards." In the time of falconry they were given to hawks as a remedy for the falling sickness.

From its likeness to a moufe, the fynonym is formed in many languages, the French terming it chauve fauris and ratpennade. The Dutch, Vleermuys. The Germans, Fleder-maufch. The Danes, Flaggermuus. The Swedes, Flader-mus. The Spaniards, Murcielago. As for our modern name of Bat, I do not know whence we apply it to this animal,

but

Different fpecies, or varieties of bats, are found in moft quarters both of the old and new world; but for an enumeration of these I fhall refer to Mr. Pennant's most excellent Synopfis of Quadrupeds, and after obferving, that fome of thofe in America are fuppofed to fuck the blood of perfons afleep, i fhall confine myself to thofe of our own ifland.

That moft able naturalift Mr. Ray takes notice of but one fpecies, though Mr. Pennant conceives that we have four. Nothing can exceed both the diligence and accuracy of Ray, but the common averfion to thefe animals feems to have prevented both him and others from either catching or examining many fpecies.

Having but two teats, it is fuppofed that they never produce more than two young ones, which, according to Pliny, they fly about

with on their back.

If this is true at all, I fhould fuppofe that it only takes place when the young are to be taught to fly, as they may be more eafily launched from their parent's back into the air, than from any other place. They cannot rife at all from the ground, according to Linnæus; and in this fituation therefore they feem divefted of every pretenfion to be deemed birds, if their being viviparous, and having no beaks, did not fuf.

ficiently exclude them, as well as their want of feathers. As to their having wings, a flying fifh, or the flying fquirrel, might for the same reason be confidered as birds.

But the most interesting part in relation to this animal, is its ftate of torpidity during the winter, to which it is induced probably from want of flying-infects for its food, as feems to be the cafe with the fwallow tribe.

In this part of the natural hiftory of this animal, I am much indebted to the communication of a most ingenious correfpondent, who knows where to find them torpid at any time during the winter, and more particularly in a large cavern near Torbay.

The prevailing notion that they hang always in clusters touching each other is not true, as this depends entirely upon their having a proper opportunity of adhering to the place from which they are fufpended; they fometimes, therefore, are in contact, and often at confiderable diftances, but always fix themselves by both their feet.

Martial fays of the dormouse, that it is fatter during its state of torpidity than when it revives. I therefore begged to know from Mr. Cornifh, whether this was the cafe with bats during the winter, who informs me that the fact does not hold with regard to the one, or the other, and that bats mute whilft they are thus fufpended. Both dormice and bats lofe from five to feven grains in weight during a fortnight, whilft in a state of torpidity.

Bats on the whole fare better during a hard than a mild winter, for warm weathernot only awakens

them,