I,. 5 MAMMAr^S OI' I'ANAMA -U^I.IrMAM I Hi; 



is 80 little kfiowii in MifMIc America that t!i«; «;l>sct vatioiiH of W.iU-r.' 

 made at I'!{^a on the upper Ania/.on many yearn a^o seem worlh 

 qiirjtiii}'. He says: " '1 he vampire was here by far the most abun- 

 dant of the family of leaf-nosed bats Nolhinj; in anirnal 



physiognomy (an be more hideous than the conjitenance of fhis 

 creature when viewed fn^iii lb'- front; the lar^e leathery ears stand- 

 inj^ out from the sirles and tr>p of the head, the erect spear shaped 

 apijendaj.^e on the tip of the nose, the \^r\\\ and the f^lihtenin>,( black 

 eye all combininj^ to fnake up ;i (ij^ure that rernitids one of some 

 m^K-kiiu^ imp of fable. No wonrler that inia^^inative people have 

 inferred diabolical instincts on the part of so ii^^ly an animal. '1 he. 

 vamjiire, however, is the most harmless of all bats, and its inoffensive 

 r haracter is well known to residents on the banks of the Amazon." 

 Wt: found that the church at l^j(a was the headfjuarters of Ihese bats 

 and adds : " I used to sec them, as I sat at my door during? the short 

 eveninf.; twilights, trooping; forth by scores from a lar^^; open window 

 at the b;tck of the altar, twitterinj^ cheerfully as they hjie<l <M to the 

 borders of the forest. 'J'hcy sometimes enter houses ; the first time 

 I saw one in my « hamber, wbeeliji^.^ heavily round and round, I mis- 

 took it for a pi^jeon, think inj^ that a tame one had es( aped from the 

 premises of one of my ncij^hbors, i f/i>cned the stomachs of several 

 of these bats, anrl found them to crmtain a mass of piilp and seeds of 

 fruits, mingled with a few remains of insects." The insects were 

 species of Coleoijtera, 



Specimens exaniiii'd ; lio'pieron, 2.'^ 



Subfamily GLOSSORHAGINAE 

 G«rnu« GIX)S80PHAGA Ouiiray 



The j^enus Glos.sophaya tyj^ifies th'- subfamily Clor.tophay^vrue 

 which includes six other genera, mainly tropical in distribution, 'i he 

 members of the prouf) arc small bats characterized externally by 

 ck/n^ated muzzle, small nose leaf, short, roimrled ears, notched lower 

 lip, and short tail protruding slightly from the upjxrr side of the 



'/deratcly developed interfemoral membrane. In external aj^pe^tr- 

 aiK.e Clossophaya bears a striking resemblance to l.onchophylla, a 

 member of the same subfatnily, and accurate deterrnin;itions niust l>c 

 based on the examination of skulls. The skull is shorter than in 

 l.onchophylla, and differs most notably in the i>ossession of comj^lete 

 zygomata, 'i he median \x\t\>t:r incisors are about as wide as high, and 



' The Naturaliit f^ the Kiver Amazoni, Vol. 2, pp, 332-333, 1863. 

 ' Collectic/n Amer. Mui, Nat, Hitt. 



