[Footnote 2:  See BELL On the Hand, ch. iii. p. 70;]

[Footnote 3:  See article on Cheiroptera, in TODD’S Cyclopiadia of Anatomy and Physiology, vol. i. p. 599.]

These active and energetic creatures, though chiefly frugivorous, are to some extent insectivorous also, as attested by their teeth[1], as well as by their habits.  They feed, amongst other things, on the guava, the plantain, the rose-apple, and the fruit of the various fig-trees.  Flying foxes are abundant in all the maritime districts, especially at the season when the pulum-imbul[2], one of the silk-cotton trees, is putting forth its flower-buds, of which they are singularly fond.  By day they suspend themselves from the highest branches, hanging by the claws of the hind legs, with the head turned upwards, and pressing the chin against the breast.  At sunset taking wing, they hover, with a murmuring sound occasioned by the beating of their broad membranous wings, around the fruit trees, on which they feed till morning, when they resume their pensile attitude as before.

[Footnote 1:  Those which I have examined have four minute incisors in each jaw, with two canines and a very minute pointed tooth behind each canine.  They have six molars in the upper jaw and ten in the lower, longitudinally grooved, and with a cutting edge directed backwards.]

[Footnote 2:  Eriodendron Orientale, Stead.]

A favourite resort of these bats is to the lofty india-rubber trees, which on one side overhang the Botanic Gardens of Paradenia in the vicinity of Kandy.  Thither for some years past, they have congregated, chiefly in the autumn, taking their departure when the figs of the ficus elastica are consumed.  Here they hang in such prodigious numbers, that frequently, large branches give way beneath their accumulated weight.  Every forenoon, generally between the hours of 9 and 11 A.M., they take to wing, apparently for exercise, and possibly to sun their wings and fur, and dry them after the dews of the early morning.  On these occasions, their numbers are quite surprising, flying in clouds as thick as bees or midges.  After these recreations, they hurry back to their favourite trees, chattering and screaming like monkeys, and always wrangling and contending angrily for the most shady and comfortable places in which to hang for the rest of the day protected from the sun.  The branches they resort to soon become almost divested of leaves, these being stripped off by the action of the bats, attaching and detaching themselves by means of their hooked feet.  At sunset, they fly off to their feeding-grounds, probably at a considerable distance, as it requires a large area to furnish sufficient food for such multitudes.

In all its movements and attitudes, the action of the Pteropus is highly interesting.  If placed upon the ground, it is almost helpless, none of its limbs being calculated for progressive motion; it drags itself along by means of the hook attached to each of its extended thumbs, pushing at the same time with those of its hind feet.  Its natural position is exclusively pensile; it moves laterally from branch to branch with great ease, by using each foot alternately, and climbs, when necessary, by means of its claws.