132 ClIElRoriLRA. 



numerous capillary vessels of the skin are divided, and an abundant, long- 

 continued bleeding results. Such \vt)unds can only be eft'ected by pecu- 

 liar organs such as the genera Desmodus and Diphylla are endowed 

 with." 



Waterton, in his travels in South America, writes : " In the morning I 

 heard my friend Tarbot swearing in his hammock. ' What's the matter?' 

 I asked; 'Anything wrong?' 'The matter!" he replied ;' the bats have 

 sucked me to death.' 1 found on examination that tiie bats had attacked 

 his great toe; the wound was less than tlie bite ot a leech. 1 conjecture 

 that my friend lost twelve ounces of bk)od." 



Bates, who lived eleven years in Brazil, was once bitten. His narra- 

 tive of a night in a South American forest is not very cheering : " To- 

 wards midnight I was awakened by the rustling sounil produced by bats 

 flying to and fro. They had put out my lamp, and when I had relit it 

 I noticed that the whiile room was black with them. I laid about me 

 with a stick and they disappeared through the roof; next morning I 

 founil a wound, evidently inflicted by bats, on my hip. The negroes 

 assert that the \'ampire is the only species which attacks man." 



GENUS PHYLLOSTOMA. 



The Vampire, Phyllostoma spectrum (^ Plate II), is the largest of the 

 South American blood-suckers. The head is thick ; the snout project- 

 ing ; tJie ears large ; the nose-leaf small for the size of the animal ; the 

 tongue is flat, elongated and extensile, covered with papilUi; so as to 

 form a kind of sucking organ ; tlic upper lip smooth, the lower lip cov- 

 ered with two large, bare, warty excrescences; the soft fur is chestnut- 

 brown on the back, yellowish-brown on the belly. 



Nothing is more hideous than the front view of this creature. The 

 great, leathern, projecting ears, the jirotruding spear-like nose, the 

 sparkling black eyes, form a whole whicii calls up the goblins of legend, 

 and hts well with the Vampire's bloodthirsty reputation. Our intro- 

 ductory remarks will have shown that there is considerable doubt 

 whether the Spectre Vampire deserves its character as a sucker of blood. 

 Bates expressly states that it is well known to the natives of Brazil for 

 its harmlessness. Still there is no wonder that a superstitious race 

 should find its monstrous appearance an index to its disposition. Both 



