298 BA TS 



shrill. The ears are commonly so pendent as completely to cover the eyes ; but 

 they are occasionally retracted so as to expose the eyes, especially if the face be 

 touched. ' ' 



In certain parts of the Amazon valley the mastiff-bats, together with Some 

 species belonging to the under mentioned nose-leafed family, are so numerous as to 

 become a serious inconvenience to travelers. Thus when at Caripi, a station situated 

 about twenty miles from Para, Bates narrates how for the first few nights of his 

 stay he slept in a room with the roof open to the tiles and rafters, which had not 

 been used for many months previously ; and on the second night of his visit was 

 awakened about midnight by the sudden rushing of swarms of bats flying around 

 him. So numerous were they, that the air was alive with them ; the lamp had 

 been extinguished by the rush of their wings, but when relighted revealed the whole 

 room blackened by their multitudes. The traveler proceeded to clear them out by 

 laying about vigorously with a stick, and for a time succeeded in making the unwel- 

 come intruders retire to the tiles and rafters. No sooner, however, was quiet 

 restored than the bats reappeared in full force, and once more extinguished his 

 light. On the third night several of the bats got into his hammock, and crawled 

 over him ; these were seized and dashed against the wall. In the morning he 

 was unpleasantly reminded of the nocturnal visitation by finding that he had 

 a wound on the hip, evidently caused by the bite of a bat. Being thereby roused 

 to desperation, he set to work in real earnest to mitigate the nuisance. A large 

 number were shot as they clung to the rafters, while the negroes ascended the roof 

 from outside by means of ladders, and succeeded in routing out hundreds of them 

 from beneath the eaves, among which were several broods of young ones. Although 

 there were altogether four species of bats present on this occasion, one of which 

 "belonged to the genus Phyllostoma, another to Glossophaga, and two to the present 

 genus, by far the greater majority pertained to the large-eared mastiff -bat {M. 

 perotis), characterized by the great size of its ears, and having a span of wing of 

 two feet. It was these bats which crawled over Mr. Bates while in his hammock ; 

 but it was the Phyllostoma (of which more anon) that appears to have inflicted the 

 wound. 



THE NAKED BAT 

 Genus Chiromeles 



One of the ugliest and strangest of all the Chiroptera is the naked or collared 

 "bat {Chiromeles torquatus}, of the Malayan region, which is a large species, measur- 

 ing five and one-fourth inches in length, exclusive of the tail. The total number of 

 its teeth is 26, of which \ are incisors, and \ are cheek-teeth on each side. With the 

 exception of a collar of thinly-spread hairs, nearly surrounding the neck, the thick 

 and puckered skin is almost completely naked. The great toe is longer than all the 

 others, to which it can be opposed ; the ears are not joined together, the lips are 

 smooth, and the tail is very long and thick, with more than half its length freely 

 projecting beyond the hinder border of the membrane between the legs. 



