38 NATURAL HISTORY OF BATS. 



of the mountains; in places too, where they had to 

 contend with furious winds, and extreme cold. One 

 of these stations may be briefly noticed in connex- 

 ion with the history of animals, because every living 

 creature instinctively avoids it, nor could the mules, 

 those hardy animals, which carry heavy burdens 

 in the most rigorous mountain passes, be kept to- 

 gether by the Indians ; so that they were obliged to 

 go with them in quest of a milder air. This was 

 the desert of Pucaquaico, beside the mountain Coto- 

 paxi. There the fury of the winds, and the whirl- 

 winds of snow and hail were so tremendous, that, 

 to use the language of Ulloa, they seemed endea- 

 vouring to tear up that dreadful volcano by the 

 roots. Often too, and that in the midst of ice and 

 snow, did their tents rock from side to side, from 

 the effect of earthquakes, which reached for leagues 

 around. 



Return we now to speak of a class of animals 

 which are pleasingly associated with ancient ruins, 

 and the wildest solitude. This is the tribe of 

 bats. Several distinct species are peculiar to the 

 new world, and among these we recognise as some 

 of the most conspicuous, the Javalin and Spectre 

 bats (phyllostoma hastatum: p. spectrum). They 

 are accused of destroying men and cattle, by sucking 

 their blood; but the truth, says Cuvier, appears to 

 be, that they only inflict small wounds, which occa- 

 sionally become inflamed from the heat of the cli- 

 mate. Don Felix d'Azzara relates, that he was 

 often bitten by them, while sleeping in the woods ; 

 the injury was, however, trifling, and occasioned 



