268 BA TS 



region, are (from the blood-sucking propensities of at least one of the species) com- 

 monly known as vampires ; but since that term is exceedingly likely to lead to con- 

 fusion with the true American vampires, they are better designated false vampires. 

 The five species of these bats, together with seven of another genus, collectively 

 constitute a distinct family. 



All the members of this family, which is known as the Nycteridee, are dis- 

 tinguished from the horseshoe-bats and their allies by the presence of a large tragus 

 in the long ears, and also by the smaller development or practical absence of the 

 nose-leaf. The false vampires (Afegaderma} are easily recognized by their enormous 

 ears being united together for a longer or shorter distance by their inner margins, 

 and also by the divided tragus and tall nose-leaf. Their tail is so small as to be 

 practically invisible ; and they have no upper incisor teeth ; the total number of their 

 teeth being 24 or 26, of which the incisors number f , the canines T , and the cheek- 

 teeth either -f or -f on each side. One of the best known species of the group is the 

 Indian false vampire (M. lyra) , which is found throughout India, from Kashmir to 

 Ceylon, and, although at present unrecorded from Burma, reappears in China. 

 Decisive evidence of its blood-sucking propensities was obtained by Blyth, who on 

 one occasion saw one of these bats fly into his house with a smaller bat in its mouth, 

 which it dropped when pursued. The captured bat was weak from loss of blood, 

 and when put next morning into a cage with its captor was at once attacked by 



the latter, being seized behind the ear and speedily 

 devoured. Canaries in Rangoon have also been 

 killed by bats, probably belonging to this species 

 an inference which, if correct, proves the occur- 

 rence of this bat in Burma. Blyth was also informed 

 by a correspondent that his house was frequented by 

 numbers of these bats, and that in the morning the 

 floor of the veranda was strewn with the debris of 

 slaughtered frogs, large grasshoppers, and crickets ; 

 while on one occasion the remains of a small fish 

 were discovered. Frogs appeared, however, to be 

 the favorite food of these bats, which could some- 

 times be heard crunching the bones and skulls of 

 HEAD OF INDIAN PAWS VAMPIRE their victims. In correspondence with their different 



Tl Al^ 



habits, the jaws, and lips of this species, as well as 



of the other false vampires, differ considerably from those of ordinary insect-eating 

 bats ; and we may hence assume that all the species partake more or less extensively 

 of an abnormal diet. The large Indian false vampire, which, like the other species, 

 has no tail visible externally, measures from three to three and a half inches in 

 length, while its extended wings have a span of from fourteen to nineteen inches. 



A second species, the Malay false vampire, extends from the Malayan region 

 and Tenasserim to China, while two others are found in Africa. One of the latter 

 ( M. frons) is characterized by the great height of the nose-leaf, and also by the 

 length of the tragus of the ear. It is an inhabitant of the west coast. These 

 African species have one more upper premolar tooth than the Oriental forms. 



