Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/673

BAT. deposits of valuable guano arc foriiuil, as is the case in certain parts of Texas. At dusk they gaily forth, alone, or in pairs, and hunt the air for their minute prey. In cold climates they spend the winter hanging in some roti'eat (each species exercising a preference in this matter) in a semi-torpid state, ami occasionally appear during warm spells. One, or sometimes two, young are born in the spring, and carried about clinging to the mother's breast, where two nip- ples yield milk. The commonest European bats, in regard to which much folk-lore and no little of foolish superstition are related and still be- lieved among the ignorant, are the long-eared {PUcottis atirilufi), the bnrbastcllii (IlnrbastcUus communis), the pipistrcl or lliltcrmouse ( V'es- perugo pipistrcllus), abundant all over Europe and Central Asia, and the serotine ( Vespcnu/o serotinus), which is almost world-wide in its distribution. Here belong also all the common North American bats, of which the most fre- quently seen in the northern United States are the little brown bat ( Vcsperlilio [or Myotis] iubulalus) and the red bat (Lasiurus borealis). All these have a long tail, extending a spacious triangular membrane, which is further sustained by two bones springing from t!ie 'heels' of the hind-feet, and which serves a most useful pur- pose in those dodgings through the air so char- acteristic of the bat's flight.

The remainder of the bats form the EmBal- lomuine section of the group. The typical fam- ily, Emhallonurida?, consists of small tropical and subtropical species of both hemispheres, which have a naked muzzle, in which the nostrils project beyond the lower lip, and a tail some- times longer than the interfcmoral membrane. Man}' are South American. One section em- braces the molossine, or mastiff-bats, of which a sooty brown species dwells in southern Cali- fornia. They are noted for the thickness and freedom of the hind-limbs and tail. Another family, the Phyllostomatidae, is confined to Cen- tral and South America, where it represents the nose-Icafed bats of the Old World, having many appendages about the nostrils. Many of them eat fruit or suck the blood of animals as well as feed upon insects, and one, called Vampi/rus spertrum, is the largest and most repulsive of American bats: it is a fruit-eater. (See Colored plate of Mammalia, and plate of Bats.) Here, however, are classed the true vampires of the genus Desmodus. See V.impire.

BiBLioGKAPHT. For the bats of the Old World, consult the standard works, and Dobson, i'ata- lofiue of the Bats in the British Museum (London, 1878) ; for North American species, Merriam, Transactions, Linnean Society of Sew York. Vol. I. (New York, 1882) ; Allen, Bats of North America. Bulletin No. 43, U. S. National Museum (Washington, 1803) ; and the writings of Waterton, Oosse, Bates, Belt, Wallace, Poey, and Hudson for bats of tropical America. For the East Indian fruit-bats, consult: Wallace, Malay Archipehujo (New York), and Blanford, Fauna of British India: Mammals (London, 1888-01).

See Fruit-Bat; Hammerhead Bat; Habpy Bat; Lyre-Bat.

BATAC, ba-tak'. A town of Luzon, Philip- pines, in the Province of llocos Norte, 10 niib's south of Laoag. It was founded in 1587. Popu- lation, in 18U8, 17,025.

BATAK, ba-tjik'. A Tinitiano tribe living on Palaian Island. See Philippines.

BATALEUR, ba'ta'ler'. See E.vgle. BAT AN, ba'tan. A to«-n of Panay, Philip- pines, in the Province of Capiz, situated 31 miles from Capiz. Population, in 1898, 12,908. BATABANO, batii'b;i-no'. A town of Cuba, situated in the Province of Havana, near the southern coast of the island, 37 miles by rail from Havana. Diego Velasquez in 1514 found- ed San Christobal de la Habana on the present site of Batabano. Population, in 1899, 1025.

BATANES, ba-ta'na. A Malay peo'ple living on Batanes Island. They have a separate dia- lect. See Philippines.

BATANGAS, ba-tiin'gfts. A seaport town, the capital of the province of the same name, on the Island of Luzon, Philippines (Map: Luzon, F 12). The province covers an area of 1153 square miles on the peninsula opposite the Island of Mindoro, and has a population of about 212,- 000. It contains a number of high mountains and Lake Bingabon, or Taal, with the volcanic mountain of Taal in its centre. The province produces extensively sugar and cocoanut oil, and has manufactures of dyestuffs, and silk, abaca, and cotton fabrics. The capital of the province, 72 miles south of Manila, lies at the mouth of the Calumpang River, on the Bay of Batangas. It has a fine harbor. The city is well built, and among its prominent buildings are a royal palace and a convent. A number of annual expositions, which attract a considerable attendance, are held in the city. Population, 3!)..'i5S.

BATAN (ba'tan) IS'LANDS (Sp. Islas Batanes). A group of islands in the northern part of the Philippine Archipelago, situated north of the Babuvan group, between latitudes 20° and 21° N. (Map: Asia, M (i) . The princi- pal islands are Ibayat, 22 square miles; Sabtan (Saptang), and Batan, 21 square miles. The total area of the group is less than 60 square miles. The population is estimated at 10,000. Administratively the group forms a separate province, with Santo Domingo de Basco (3000) on Batan as capital.

BATARDEAU, ba'tiir'do' (Fr., a dam, dimin. of OF. bastard, dike). A term in military for- tification designating the wall, generally of masonry, and sometimes furnished with a sluice- gate, built across the outer ditch of a fortress, to sustain the pressure of water in those parts of the ditch requiring inundation. See Forti- fication.

BATATAS, ba-ta'tas. See Sweet Potato.

BATA'VI. The name of a German people, who anciently inhabited a part of the present Holland, particularly the island which was called after them, Insula Batavorum, formed by the branch of the Rhine which falls into the sea at Leyden, the Waal, and the Maas. Their country, however, extended across the Waal, but its boundaries cannot now be precisely determined. According to Tacitus, they were originally a branch of the Chatti, who emigrated across the Rhine. They were conquered by Germanicus, became subject to the Romans, and served them so well that they obtained the honorary title of 'friends and brothers of the Roman people'; were exempted from taxes and assessments, being required to provide only a proportion of troops,