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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 1067.PDF
OCTOBER 4, 1913. compare what is known of these animals with the various species that exist to-day. The bat is, of course, a wonder in flight. For com plexity, its evolutions in the air altogether put the average flight of a bird in the shade. A common bat, accidentally caged in a room, will fly under the table, round the legs of the chairs, skim under the ceiling, and dart diagonally down the walls, like a flash of lightning, and without ever touching a thing. Apart from its wings being membraneous, the bat differs from a bird in the arrangement of the muscles for operating them. The bat has muscles attached to its back, by means of which it lifts its wings. In the bird, the muscles for lifting the wings, as well as those for beating them down wards, are anchored to the keel of the breast-bone. There is an exceedingly interesting collection of breast-bones of various birds, and one can see at a glance, by the depth of the keel, which belonged to birds that were strong flyers. The depth of keel is notably great in the case of game birds, adjutant birds, and the common pigeon. In the emu and other flightless birds, there is no keel plate at all. The albatross has a wonderfully developed breast of great width, but the keel is not especially deep, which is interesting because, although this bird is a great flyer, it does most of its soaring at the expense of the energy in wind. The system of muscular control in insects differs again from that of birds, although the dragon-fly and similar insects have their primary muscles arranged on the same plan. In the beetle, and insects of that class, the primary muscles are quite otherwise situated, and the wing is not directly operated by them, There is, however, a system of light secondary muscles similarly arranged to those used by the bird. The most extraordinary thing about » ® Aero and Motor Boat Show Next March. THE project of having a special motor boat exhibition at the Agricultural Hall not having received sufficient support, the original arrangement of combining this section with the Aero Show, which will be again organised next March, has been [/OGHT the muscular arrangement of the beetle is the fact that one of its primary muscles lies lengthways under its back, and when it wants to beat its wings downwards, it arches its back by contracting this muscle, much as a man might double up from a pain in the stomach. The edge of the back is attached to the shoulder of the wing, which is pivotted to the side of the body a little W.ns im.hruj «11 Depftuor (Jirttil Diagrammatic sketch of a section across the thorax of a locust, showing the principal muscles concerned in the elevation and depression of the wings. further along the arm. The raising of the back thus beats the wing downwards. The return or upward stroke of the wing is controlled by a vertical muscle, joining the back to the stomach, and the contraction of this muscle thus flattens the back and lifts the wing. A dissected specimen of an enormous stag beetle enables these muscles to be examined directly on quite a large scale. (To be concluded.) W ® reverted to. In addition to the comprehensive array of aircraft both for land and water work, it is anticipated that there will be a good display of hydroplanes and motor boats, while the multifarious uses of the internal combustion engine will be demonstrated. An interesting scene during the German manoeuvres—the Kaiser in conversation with Count Zeppellln. left Prince Waldemar of Prussia, the Commander of the German Volunteer Automobile Corps. On the IC93
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