According to Cuvier, the number of muscles, in an elephant's trunk, amounts to _forty thousand_, all of which are under the will, and it is to these that the proboscis of this animal owes its flexibility. It can be protruded or contracted at pleasure, raised up or turned to either side, coiled round on itself or twined around any object. With this instrument the elephant collects the herbage on which he feeds and puts it into his mouth; with this he strips the trees of their branches, or grasps his enemy and dashes him to the ground. But this admirable organ is not only adapted for seizing or holding substances of magnitude; it is also capable of plucking a single leaf, or of picking up a straw from the floor. The orifices of the canals of the extremity are encircled by a projecting margin, produced anteriorly into a finger-like process endowed with a high degree of sensibility and exceedingly flexible. It is at once a finger for grasping and a feeler: the division between the two nasal orifices or their elevated sides serves as a point against which to press; and thus it can pick up or hold a small coin, a bit of biscuit, or any trifling thing with the greatest ease.--_Knight's Animal Kingdom._ 1079. _Why have bats hooked claws in their wings?_ Because bats are almost destitute of legs and feet; at least those organs are included in their wings. If they alight upon the ground, they have great difficulty in again taking to the wing, as they cannot run or spring to bring their wings in action upon the air. At the angle of each wing there is placed, therefore, a bony hook, by which the bat attaches itself to the sides of rocks, caves, and buildings, laying hold of crevices, joinings, chinks, &c.; and when it takes its flight, _it unhooks itself, and its wings are at once free to strike the air_. 1080. _Why does the bat fly by night?_ Because it lives chiefly upon moths, which are _night-flying insects_. [Verse: "So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish: Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web."--JOB VIII.] 1081. _Why does the bat sleep during the winter?_ Because, as the winter approaches, the moths and flying insects upon which it feeds, disappear. _If, therefore, it did not sleep through the winter it must have starved._ [Illustration: Fig. 71.--BAT WITH HOOKED WINGS.] 1082. _Why has the spider the power of spinning a web?_ Because, as it lives upon flies, but is _deficient of the power of flying in pursuit of them_, it has been endowed with an instinct _to spread a snare to entrap them_, and with the most wonderful machinery to give that instinct effect.