332 ANIMALS OF EGA. Chap. V. 



in shady places ; others cling to the trunks of trees. 

 Whilst walking through the forest in the daytime, 

 especially along gloomy ravines, one is almost sure to 

 startle bats from their sleeping-places ; and at night 

 they are often seen in great numbers flitting about the 

 trees on the shady margins of narrow channels. I 

 captured altogether, without giving especial attention 

 to bats, sixteen different .species at Ega. 



The Vampire Bat. — The little gray bloodsucking 

 Phyllostoma, mentioned in a former chapter as found in 

 my chamber at Caripi, was not uncommon at Ega, 

 where everyone believes it to visit sleepers and bleed 

 them in the night. But the vampire was here by far the 

 most abundant of the family of leaf-nosed bats. It is 

 the largest of all the South American species, measuring 

 twenty-eight inches in expanse of wing. Nothing, in 

 animal physiognomy can be more hideous than the 

 countenance of this creature when viewed from the 

 front ; the large, leathery ears standing out from the 

 sides and top of the head, the erect spear-shaped ap- 

 pendage on the tip of the nose, the grin and the glis- 

 tening black eye all combining to make up a figure that 

 reminds one of some mocking imp of fable. No wonder 

 that imaginative people have inferred diabolical in- 

 stincts on the part of so ugly an animal. The vampire, 

 however, is the most harmless of all bats, and its inof- 

 fensive character is well known to residents on the 

 banks of the Amazons. I found two distinct species of 

 it, one having the fur of a blackish colour, the other of 

 a ruddy hue, and ascertained that both feed chiefly on 

 fruits. The church at Ega was the head-quarters of 



