284 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1936 



Dr. Beebe's observation, though made in the dark, is good sub- 

 stantiation of the senior author's surmise about the soft gait of the 

 bat in reconnoitering its prey. Dr. Beebe's description of the push- 

 ing of the feet and pulling with the thumbs does not however, de- 

 fine the actual action of the vampire, which walks, with body well 

 elevated from the ground and the elongated thumbs used as feet. 



In further substantiation of the observation that the bat has a 

 walking gait, the senior author was informed by Sacha Siemel, an 

 explorer of the Brazilian jungle, that while he was conducting a 

 party close to the Bolivian frontier, a number of vampires at- 

 tacked the horses. Mr. Siemel, with a flashlight, carefully noted the 

 actions of the bats. Some he saw lapping blood from fresh wounds, 

 while others, as yet undecided upon areas to bite, stalked back and 

 forth over the animals' backs, walked among the matted leaves of the 

 forest floor, or hopped from one spot to another. 



OBSERVATIONS DURING 1934 



For the tropical reconnoiter of this year, the senior author planned 

 a trip along the entire chain of the West Indies, terminating at its 

 southerly end in collecting work in Trinidad and British Guiana. 

 The junior author left a month ahead, on July 19, bearing a letter 

 which put him in contact in Trinidad with Prof. F. W. Urich 

 of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture. Professor Urich 

 he found engaged in an investigation, operating on a government 

 grant, of the transmission of paralytic rabies by vampire bats. The 

 disease was seriously prevalent among cattle and thus far fatal, 

 although vaccine is now being administered to immunize the herds. 

 The disease was also fatal to about 35 humans over a period of years. 

 They were dwellers in the back areas where vampires are commonest, 

 and the bat is not known to attack humans in the cities and towns. 



Professor Urich and his field assistant, J. P. L. Wehekind, ex- 

 tended much aid in getting together a collection of various speci- 

 mens for the Zoological Park and providing transportation to differ- 

 ent parts of the island. Several days after arrival in Trinidad the 

 junior author, accompanied by William Bridges, captured seven 

 vampire bats in the Diego Martin Cave.^ 



The newly captured bats were taken to the Government stock farm 

 and placed in a small framework building with sides of wire screen. 

 In this building was another vampire that had been under the ob- 

 servation of Professor Urich for about 3 months. He had studied 

 its feeding habits on goats and fowls. This bat was tame enough 



* For details of a month's collecting work in Triniflad and Demarara, note serial account 

 by William Bridges, N. Y. Sun, July 30 to Sept. 12, 1934. 



