168 JOURNAL OP THE TRINIDAD 



rudimentary in the females, and are supposed to be a means of 

 sexual attraction on account of a red coloured strong smelling 

 substance contained therein. In Saccopteryx leptura the 

 pouches are very much larger than in the others. A curious 

 little bat of this family is Rhynchonycteris naso Wied. 

 They are often met with on the banks of the Caroni, in groups, 

 resting on stumps and trunks of trees, especially those over- 

 hanging the water. This ia our smallest species and has a 

 spread of wing of about 8 to 9 inches. Its colour is brownish gray, 

 very closely imitating the tree trunks, they are also very often 

 found under the loose bark, which no doubt they seek for 

 protection against the hawks and other birds which feed on 

 them. The muzzle is rather elongated and fine, the tail perforates 

 the interfemoral membrane and appears on its surface. The 

 next and last family of Trinidad bats is the Phyllostomatidae — 

 largely represented here and in America, and differing considerably 

 in size though all agreeing in the possession of the nose leaf, 

 which in some instances is longer than the head. They are 

 collectively styled Vampires and are exclusively confined to 

 Central and South America and the West Indies. We have up 

 to the present discovered 1 7 species in this island and may probably, 

 very shortly add several new ones to the list. They are characterized 

 by the presence of three bony joints in the third or middle 

 finger. A very curious species inhabiting this island is 

 Glossophaga soricina and represents with Anoura geoffroyii a 

 group of bats characterized by their long tongues which project 

 considerably from their mouths and can be pulled out twice the 

 length of the head. The tongue ends in a mass of papilhe and 

 in shape somewhat resembles a tooth brush. This peculiar 

 modification it was once thought was used for abrading the skin 

 of animals, previously to sucking their blood, but it is now known 

 to be used for licking up the pulpy substance of fruit. The 

 lower lip is deeply channelled, the incisors enlarged, the 

 medians larger than the laterals and projecting with a fine 

 cutting edge. This small and harmless bat is thought by many 

 persons to be the blood sucker, no doubt owing to the length 

 of its tongue, in the very same way that 99 out of 100 persons 

 not only in Town but in the country (where the people have the 

 facility of acquiring better information) believe that snakes sting 

 with the filamentous process which they project from their 

 mouths and wdiich is nothing else but their tongues. These 

 bats simply use their remarkable tongues for licking up the 

 pulp of fruits and the honey of flowers. Again we possess in this 

 family the largest bat of the New World, in fact the largest in 

 the world, except the great fox bat of India. The specimen on 

 view, Vampyrus spectrum, with the skull attached will show you 

 what a formidable creature it apparently is. It belongs to a 



