Cuap. XII. BATS. 345 
the land of the Cebidz, but immigrants from the Old World continent, 
the land of the Anthropoid group of the order Quadrumana. 
Bats.—The only other mammals that I shall mention are the bats, 
which exist in very considerable numbers and variety in the forest, as 
well as in the buildings of the villages. Many small and curious species 
living in the woods conceal themselves by day under the broad leaf. 
blades of Heliconiz and other plants which grow in shady places ; 
others cling to the trunks of trees. Whilst walking through the forest in 
the daytime, especially along gloomy ravines, one is almost sure to 
startle bats from their sleeping-places ; and at night they are often seen 
in great numbers flitting about the trees on the shady margins of narrow 
channels. I captured altogether, without giving special attention to bats, 
sixteen different species at Ega. 
The Vampire Bat.—The little gray bloodsucking Phyllostoma, 
mentioned in a former chapter as found in my chamber at Capri, was 
not uncommon at Ega, where every one believes it to visit sleepers, and 
bleed them in the night. But the vampire was here by far the most 
abundant of the family of leaf-nosed bats. It is the largest of all the 
South American species, measuring twenty-eight inches in expanse of 
wing. Nothing in animal physiognomy can be more hideous than the 
countenance of this creature when viewed from the front; the large 
leathery ears standing out from the sides and top of the head, the erect 
spear-shaped appendage on the tip of the nose, the grin and the 
glistening black eye, all combining to make up a figure that reminds one 
of some mocking imp of fable. No wonder that imaginative people 
have inferred diabolical instincts on the part of so ugly an animal. The 
vampire, however, is the most harmless of all bats, and its inoffensive 
character is well known to residents on the banks of the Amazons. I 
found two distinct species of it, one having the fur of a blackish colour, 
the other of a ruddy hue, and ascertained that both feed chiefly on 
fruits. ‘The church at Ega was the headquarters of both kinds ; I used 
to see them, as I sat at my door during the short evening twilights, 
trooping forth by scores from a large open window at the back of the 
altar, twittering cheerfully as they sped off to the borders of the forest. 
They sometimes enter houses ; the first time I saw one in my chamber, 
wheeling heavily round and round, I mistook it for a pigeon, thinking that 
a tame one had escaped from the premises of one of my neighbours. I 
opened the stomachs of several of these bats, and found them to con- 
tain a mass of pulp and seeds of fruits, mingled with a few remains of 
insects.* The natives say they devour ripe cajlis and guavas on trees 
in the gardens, but on comparing the seeds taken from their stomachs 
- with those of all cultivated trees at Ega, I found they were unlike any 
of them ; it is therefore probable that they generally resort to the forest 
to feed, coming to the village in the morning to sleep, because they find 
it more secure from animals of prey than their natural abodes in the 
woods. 

Birds.—I have already had occasion to mention several of the more 
* The remains of insects belonged to species of Scarites (Coleoptera), having blunt 
maxillary blades, several of which fly abroad in great numbers on warm nights. 
