678 Queries and Answers. 



pospectus, p. 191 . ; promises to be a most useful and enticing work. And, as 

 it is stated that, " in the mode of publishing, the form of a magazine has 

 been decided upon," I should be glad to be informed whether it is designed 

 to be a regular periodical, of long and indefinite continuance, or whether 

 the public may calculate on its completion in the course of a moderate 

 period, and within some reasonable limits as to extent. To myself, who, 

 though no very skilful practitioner in the art, am yet a dear " lover of the 

 angle," an ardent admirer of old honest Izaak Walton, and a bit of a naturalist 

 into the bargain, the work holds out many most attractive and bewitching 

 baits. But, like the " burnt child who dreads the fire," [piscator ictus 

 sapit,] I have learned, by experience, to entertain some formidable and justly 

 founded scruples about commencing to " take in" a periodical. Yours, &c. 

 — A. R. Y. March 10. 1832. 



A. R. Y., along with this notice, remarked that the sentence quoted 

 (p. 192.) as " instancing the editor's style of treating his subject," is almost 

 precisely a re-quotation of the extract selected by A. R. Y., p. 57, 58., in his 

 review of the British Naturalist. We had overlooked this until it had become 

 too late to remedy it ,* and can only say, in the sheets submitted for notice, 

 it was not even acknowledged as a quotation, much less acknowledged as 

 derived from the British Naturalist. A. R. Y., in conclusion, remarks, 

 " The very nature of the intended Anglei^'^s Museuvi^ I am aware, not only 

 allows, but demands, the liberty of drawing copiously from the writings of 

 others ; but such a passage as I have noticed ought not to have been given 

 without some acknowledgement of the source from which it was derived. 

 This circumstance, however, may perhaps be duly attended to, when the 

 work actually appears before the public eye." 



Plandna comuta^ described p. 344., is really the Planaria cornuta of 

 M'tlllery as I have been able to verify by reference to his figure copied into 

 the Encyclo2^edie Methodique. The Planaria vittata of Montagu is probably 

 the same species, as is stated at p. 429. ; but, in a manner too decided, 

 because I had not his figure before me. — G. Johnston. Berwick upon 

 Tweed, July 15. 1832. 



Art. II. Queries and Ansiioers. 



The Vampire Bat. — Bishop Heber's opinion (p. 470.) of the innocence 

 of this creature by no means agrees with what one has read of his blood- 

 thirsty habits ; and particularly the instances given by Captain Stedman, in 

 his Travels in Surinam, who, more than once, individually, experienced the 

 inconvenience of the Sangrado system of blood-letting, or, more properly, 

 blood-taking, pursued by this practitioner. — S. T. Stoke Ferry, June 8. 

 1832. 



The Vampire. — 



" Non missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris hirudo." Hor. 



" This leech will suck the vein, until 

 From your heart's blood he gets his fill." 



In answer to the query of J. D. (p. 471.), " whether the vampire of India 

 and that of South America be of one species," I beg to say that I consider 

 them distinct species. I have never yet seen a bat from India with a mem- 

 brane rising perpendicularly from the end of its nose ; nor have I ever been 

 able to learn that bats in India suck animals, though I have questioned 

 many people on this subject. I could only find two species of bats in 

 Guiana with a membrane rising from the nose. Both these kinds suck 

 animals and eat fruit ; while those bats without a membrane on the nose 

 seem to live entirely upon fruit and insects, but chiefly insects. A gentle- 



