WHAT ARE BATS? 



533 



eludes, among very many others, all the English bats without a nose- 

 leaf; 2. . The Rldnolophidai, which includes, among very many others, 

 the English leaf-nosed bats ; and 3. The Phyllostomidce, or leaf-nosed 

 bats of America. 



The other group of bats are made up of those, mostly of large 

 size, called flying-foxes, of which we have ' specimens now living in 

 the Zoological Gardens. They are confined to the tropical and sub- 

 tropical regions of the Old World and the Pacific, but are not found 

 even in the hottest regions of South America. They have grinding 

 teeth, which are not drawn out into sharp points, but have their 

 crowns marked simply with a longitudinal furrow, in accordance with 

 their fruit-eating habits, and their stomach (also in accordance with 

 this habit) is much prolonged at its pyloric, or more specially diges- 

 tive, end. 



Certain leaf-nosed bats of South America go by the formidable 

 name of vampires, from their reputed blood-sucking habits. 



Although such a habit could only have been attributed erroneously 

 to the entire group, one certain kind of this group is very truly blood- 

 sucking, and its organization is peculiarly and very strikingly modi- 

 fied to efficiently subserve this function. 



The bat in question is called Desmodus, and the truth as to its 

 blood-sucking habit has been fully established by the testimony of 

 Mr. Darwin. 1 He tells us : " The vampire-bat is often the cause of 

 much trouble, by biting the horses on their withers. The injury is 

 generally not so much owing to the loss of blood as to the inflamma- 

 tion which the pressure of the saddle afterward produces. The whole 

 circumstance having been lately doubted in England, I was therefore 

 fortunate in being present when one (Desmodus d" Orbignyi) w T as ac- 

 tually caught on a horse's back. We were bivouacking late one 



Fig. 5. Teeth op the Vampire Bat {Desmodus). i, cutting-teeth ; c, eye-teeth. 



evening near Coquimbo in Chili, when my servant, noticing that one 

 of the horses was very restive, went to see what was the matter, and, 

 fancying he could distinguish something, suddenly put his hand on 

 the beast's withers, and secured the vampire. In the morning the 

 spot where the bite had been inflicted was easily distinguished from 

 being swollen and bloody. The third day afterward we rode the 

 horse, without any ill effects." 



The special modifications of structure which harmonize with this 



1 " Journal of Voyage of Beagle," vol. i., p. 22. 



