MAMMALIA — BAT. 93 



of the body and the colors of the hair. The roussette, whose hair is of a 

 reddish brown, is in length nine inches from the tip of the nose to the inser- 

 tion of the tail, and in breadth three or even four feet, when the membranes, 

 which serve it for wings, are fully extended. The rougette, whose hair is 

 of a reddish ash-color, is hardly more than five inches and a half in length, 

 and two feet in breadth ; and its neck is half encircled with a stripe of hair 

 of a lively red, intermixed with orange color, of which we perceive no ves- 

 tige on the neck of the roussette. They both belong nearly to the same hot 

 climates of the old continent. We meet with them in Madagascar, in the 

 island of Bourbon, in Ternate, in the Philippine and other islands of the 

 Indian Archipelago, where, indeed, they seem to be more common than in 

 the neighboring continents. 



The smell of these creatures is ranker than that of a fox, yet the Indians 

 consider them as delicious food, and the French who reside in the Isle of 

 Bourbon, even boil them in their soup to give it a relish ! The hair 

 of the vampire bat, interwoven with threads of cyperus squamosus, is 

 used by the natives of New Caledonia for making ropes and the tassels of 

 their clubs. 



In the hotter countries of the New World, and in some of the islands 

 of the Pacific Ocean, we likewise meet with another flying quadruped, 

 of which we know not the American name, but to which we will affix 

 the denomination of spectre, because it sucks the blood of men, and of 

 animals, while they are asleep, without causing even sufficient pain to 

 awake them. 



The spectre is smaller than the rougette, which is itself smaller than the 

 roussette. The former, when it flies, seems to be of the size of a pigeon; 

 the second, of the size of a raven ; and the third, of the size of a large hen. 

 Of both, the roussette and the rougette, the head is tolerably well shaped ; 

 the ears are short, and the nose is very round, and nearly in form like that 

 of a dog. Of the spectre, on the contrary, the nose is more elongated ; the 

 aspect is as hideous as that of the ugliest bats ; the head is unshapely, and 

 the ears large, very open, and very straight ; its nose is disfigured ; its nos- 

 trils resemble a funnel, and have a membrane at the top, which rises up in 

 the form of a sharp horn, or cock's comb, and greatly heightens the deformi- 

 ty of its face. 



There is no doubt, therefore, but that the species of the spectre is different 

 from those of the roussette and the rougette. It is an animal not less mis- 

 chievous than it is deformed ; it is the pest of man, the torment and destruc- 

 tion of animals. In confirmation of this truth, a more authentic testimony 

 cannot be produced than that of M. de la Condamine. "The bats," says he, 

 " which suck the blood of norses, of mules, and even of men, when they do 

 not guard against it by sleeping under the shelter of a pavilion, are a scourge 

 common to most of the hot countries of America. Of these there are some 

 of a monstrous size. At Borja, and several other places, they have entirely 





