Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Faithful Garden Variety readers will remember that my daughter, Jessie, may or may not have been bitten by a bat during her sleep this summer and was forced to endure the rabies series of shots.

It was not clear that the bat had had rabies - or even that it had left its tiny bite somewhere on her skin. But you don't get do-overs with rabies. It is 100 percent fatal. The shots are a must

(Not nearly as painful as they once were, they are still hideously expensive.)

Not one to hold a grudge, Garden Variety was pleased to learn that Congress has approved $1.9 million in federal funding for research to identify the cause and seek solutions to the "white-nose syndrome" that is devastating bat populations in the Northeast.

This is on top of the $500,000 that had already been allocated for monitoring the mysterious disease, which has 90 percent mortality rates in some places.

White-nose syndrome is exactly that. The noses of the bats display a white dusty fungus during their hibernation. The fungus is just enough of an irritant to keep the bats from entering the deep slumber of hibernation, and they expend valuable energy reserves.

As a result, when spring comes and the bats emerge from their cave sleeping places, they don't have the strength to survive until the insect population arrives for supper.

(Maryland does not have the deep cave system bats require for hibernation. But Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia do.)

Bats have a different kind of reputation at this time of year, but they are an important link in the agrarian food chain because of their appetite for insects.

And they are protective of humans as well because they are so good at eating mosquitoes, which carry the West Nile virus.

This appropriation is probably not enough to understand and irradicate this fungus. The Bat Conservation International urges gardeners and others to contact their congressmen to urge additional funding.

Hey bats. All is forgiven.