560 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



advantage and fat flatters their palate. 

 The bats make choice morsels spiked 

 on a splinter of wood, singed and 

 l)roiled over the fire, the bowels left in 

 as a condiment but pressed out just 

 before serving. Meat and bones are 

 crunched with delight. The canines of 

 insectivorous bats, which the natives 



All bats hang head downward while resting or sleeping. This 

 species of fruit bat {Epomophorus aiiurus), to effect this posi- 

 tion, hooks its sharp claws securely over a twig. Sometimes 

 flocks of from thirty to forty of these bats fly to the same tree to 

 sleep, at once disappearing from view as though they were only 

 so many additions to the indistinct blotches of shadow cast by 

 the surrounding boughs 



speak of as needles, are removed with 

 great care ; for, according to general be- 

 lief, the}' would pierce the stomach, 

 with sure death as a result. Among the 

 Mangbetu the fat, wrinkle-lipped bats 

 (Molossidffi) are often brought to the 

 king as an especially dainty dish. 

 Boasted and arrayed in rows of five 

 and ten on a rod, they 

 make a very welcome pres- 

 ent : but should the donor 

 forget to break out their 

 needles he is guilty of the 

 gravest offense. Suspected 

 of an intention to murder 

 the king, his days are 

 I 111 inhered. 



Tropical regions offer 

 t-Dinparatively ideal condi- 

 tions to bats. Such re- 

 straining influences as lack 

 of food during tlic winter 

 months and the enforced 

 hiljcrnation to which they 

 have to submit in tem- 

 pcrate climates are en- 

 tirely absent. Bats, on 

 the whole, are either cre- 

 puscular or nocturnal, but 

 when disturbed, all can fly 

 easily, even in the glare of 

 the sun, to a new shelter. 

 .Most of them are unol)tru- 

 sive and seek complete 

 seclusion. Close observa- 

 tion, therefore, often cul- 

 minates in the search for 

 the varied hiding places to 

 which they retreat during 

 the day. 



All the equatorial part 

 of West Africa is covered 

 by luxuriant rain forests, 

 which extend as a broad 

 band, sometimes exceed- 

 ing four hundred miles in 

 width, more than half 

 across the Dark Continent. 

 Seasonal changes scarcely 

 are noticeable, although 

 rain storms of indescribable 



