VIII. The myology of the cheiroptera

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Abstract
The aberrant forms and remarkable habits of the animals composing this order, so divergent from the general mammalian type, render the study of their myology a subject of the deepest anatomical interest; and yet it is singular how little attention has hitherto been directed to its investigation. Thus in the article “Cheiroptera” in the 'Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology,’ the muscular system is passed over unnoticed; and in another standard work, Professor Owen’s 'Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates,’ the only fact noticed regarding the muscles of the Bats is their deep red colour (vol. iii. p. 1). No extensive series of observations has hitherto been made on this subject; a few species only have been dissected with care, and these dissections have not even been compared with each other. Cuvier, Meckel, Kolenati, Humphry, and Aeby are among the only authors who have published records of their researches, and not more than four or five species have been made the subjects of description. On examining some of the store jars in the Museum of the Dublin University, I found some specimens of Bats which proved on examination to be in very good dissectable condition. During the past summer I made a very careful series of dissections of these, and have from them compiled the present Monograph. The number of perfectly new and remarkable facts which have, in the course of my examinations, been observed and recorded, will, I think, fully justify me in publishing a detailed account of my dissections.

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