THE VAMPIRE BAT. 



"Like the bat of Indian brakes 

 His pinions fan the wounds he makes, 

 And soothing thus the sufferer's pain 

 He draws the Hfe blood from the vein." 



Lines quoted by an M.P. (? Mr. T. P. O^ Connor) in the House 

 of Commons, March 75, IQOJ. 



The well known motto in oinnia paratus receives 

 frequent illustration amongst animals : they are 

 armed at all points for the battle of life. The 

 musk ox of Greenland carries a pair of stout horns 

 for defence and is clothed in a thick overcoat of wool 

 and hair, while its broad hoofs carry it safely over 

 the frozen snow. The European mole, clad in a 

 pliable suit of natural velvet, easily traverses its 

 underground galleries and performs wonderful feats 

 of engineering with its spade-like hands. The un- 

 tidy tree porcupine of Canada climbs well and easily, 

 aided by its prehensile tail, while its uncouth outlines 

 protect it by simulating, when high up in the branches^ 

 a ragged last year's bird's nest. The porpoise hunts 

 the teeming herring of the North sea, its mammalian 

 intelligence and fish-like body rendering it more than 

 a match for them as the trap-like jaws open and shut 

 amongst their silvery myriads. One may regard 

 carnivorous animals of all classes — mammal, bird, 

 reptile — as highly organised machines, modified in 

 every way for assimilating animal food ; amongst 



