136 



ZOOLOGY. 



[Part IT. 



tliey are singularly fond. By day they suspend them- 

 selves from the highest branches, hanging by the claws 

 of the hind legs, pressing the chin against the breast, 

 and using the closed membrane attached to the fore- 

 arms as a mantle to envelope the head. At sunset 

 launching into the air, they hover with a murmuring 

 sound occasioned by the beating of their broad mem- 

 branous wings, around the fruit trees, on which they 

 feed till morning, when they resume their pensile atti- 

 tude as before. They are strongly attracted to the 

 coco-nut trees during the ]:)eriod when toddy is drawn for 

 distillation, and exhibit, it is said, at such times symptoms 

 resembUng intoxication.^ 



The flying-fox is killed by the natives for the sake of 

 its flesh, which I have been told, by a gentleman who 

 has eaten it, resembles that of the liare.^ 



There are several varieties (some of them pecuhar to 

 the island) of the horse-shoe-headed Rhinolophus, with 

 the strange leaf-hke appendage erected on the extremity 

 of the nose. It has been suggested that bats, though 

 nocturnal, are deficient in that keen vision characteristic 



1 Mr. Th>vaites, of tlie Eoyal Bo- 

 tanic Garden, at Kandy, in a recent 

 letter, 19th Dec. 1858,* gives the fol- 

 lowinp description of a periodical 

 visit of the pteropiis to an avenue of 

 fig-trees : — " You would be much 

 interested now in observing a colony 

 of the jiteropus bat, which has estab- 

 lished itself for a season on some 

 trees within sight of my bimgalow. 

 They came about the same time last 

 year, and, after staying a few weeks, 

 disappeared : I suppose they had 

 demolished all the available food in 

 the neighbourhood. They are now 

 busy of an evening eating the figs of 

 Ficiis elastica, of which we have a 

 long avenue in the grounds, as I 

 dare say you remember. 



" These bats take possession during 

 the day of particular trees, upon 

 which they hang like so much ripe 

 fruit, but they take it into their 

 heads to have some exercise every 



morning between the hours of 9 and 

 11, dming which they are wheeling 

 about in the air by the hundred, 

 seemingly enjoying the simshine and 

 warmth. They then return to their 

 fevourite tree, and remain quiet 

 imtil the evening, when they move off 

 towards their feeding gi'oimd. There 

 is a great chattering and screaming 

 amongst them before they can get 

 agi-eeably settled in their places 

 after their morning exercise ; quar- 

 relling, I suppose, for the most com- 

 fortable spots to hang on by during 

 the rest of the day. The trees they 

 take possession of become nearly 

 stripped of leaves ; and it is a curious 

 sight to see them in such immense 

 numbers. I do not allow them to be 

 disturbed." 



"^ In Western India the native 

 Portuguese eat the flying-fox, and 

 pronoimce it delicate, and far from 

 disagreeable in flavour. 



