The aural anatomy of bats

The fine structure of the ears of 62 species of bats from 13 families has been studied by means of serial sections. The bats were caught alive in Britain, West Indies, Panama, Central and North Africa and were intra-vitally perfused with fixative in order to obtain perfect preservation of the internal ear. Where possible, up to six specimens of each species were fixed for this study and all the ears were sectioned in the horizontal plane. This paper will survey briefly some of the results obtained. The pinnae of bats are varied in size, shape and structure and have not been studied in detail. In many bats, e.g. Rhinolophus and Hipposideros they are mobile, the movements being correlated with pulse emission (Pye, Flinn & Pye, 1962; Pye & Roberts, 1970). These mobile pinnae are usually simple in shape, others are immobile and may be complex and have leaflets or tragi inside the main part of the ear.