more strongly developed in males than in females, and may perhaps be partly relegated to the category of secondary sexual characters. But it seems that they have also an important tactile function, and enable the creatures to fly without touching bodies which intrude themselves upon their way. The ears, too, are frequently very large, and it may be supposed that the sense of hearing is correspondingly acute. In the common Long-eared Bat of this country, the ears are not greatly inferior in length to the head and body of the animal combined. The ears are of every variety of shape, and offer characters which are valuable in the systematic arrangement of the members of the order.
Fig. 255.—Skeleton of Flying Fox. Pteropus jubatus. × ⅛. (After de Blainville.)
In the skull of Bats there is very rarely a complete separation between the orbital and temporal fossae; the lachrymal duct is outside the orbit. The tympanics are annular, and in a rudimentary condition. The centra
