NATURAL HISTORY. 



25 



Its food consists of fruits, insects, and small birds, which latter 

 it takes while they are sleeping. This is the largest of the 

 Lemurs, being rather larger than a cat. 



The SLENDER Louis* is a native of India, Ceylon, &c. It, 

 like the Lemur, seldom moves by day, but prowls about at 

 night in search of food. No sooner does it espy a sleeping bird, 

 than it slowly advances until within reach ; then putting 

 forward its paw with a motion slow and imperceptible as the 

 movement of the shadow on the dial, it gradually places its 

 fingers over the devoted bird ; then, with a movement swifter 

 than the eye can follow, it seizes its startled prey. 



Two genera are omitted between Lemur and Loris, and 

 several more between Loris and the Yespertilionida3. 



Family V. . . Vespertiliomdre. Lat vcspcrtilio, a bat. Bat kind.) 

 Sub-family a. Phyllostonnna. (Gr. $v/J*ov, a leaf; crro/za, a mouth.) 



VAMPIRUS (" said by Adduny to be of Servian origin.'"} 



Spectrum (Lat. a spectre), the Vampire Bat. 



We now arrive at the BATS, or Cheiroptera. This name is 

 derived from the singular manner in which their fore-paws, or 



See preceding page. 

 B 



