70 MAMMALIA. CHEIROPTERA. 



N. rujus, Spix. Body red ; the legs and ears nearly naked. In- 

 habits Brazil Spix, Braz. f. 35, f. 1. 



Gen. 32. PHYLLOSTOMA, Geoff. Lin. Cuv. 



Incisors f , canines |-{, molars f-f , or g-g, =: 32 or 34. La- 

 j teral incisors very small, the intermediate ones broader; 

 head long and conical ; nose with two nasal crests, one like 

 a leaf, the other of a horse-shoe form ; ears large, naked, 

 not united. Auricle internal, dentated ; eyes small and late- 

 ral ; tongue rough with horny papillae ; tail and interfemoral 

 membrane more or less developed. 



These bats occasionally suck the blood of animals, but the wounds they make 

 are neither very dangerous nor painful. " Sometimes," says d'Azara, " they 

 will bite the crests and beards of fowls while asleep, and suck the blood. The fowls 

 generally die in consequence of this, as a gangrene is engendered in the wounds. 

 They bite also horses, mules, apes, and horned cattle generally on the buttocks, 

 shoulders, or neck, as they are better enabled to arrive at these parts from the faci- 

 lities afforded them by the mane or tail. Nor is man himself secure from their at- 

 tacks. On this point, indeed, I am enabled to give a very faithful testimony, since 

 I have had the endfc of my toes bitten by them four times while I was sleeping in 

 cottages in the open country. The wounds which they inflicted, without my feeling 

 them at the time, were circular, and rather elliptical, their diameter was trifling, 

 and their depth so superficial as scarcely to penetrate the cutis. It was easy also, 

 on examination, to perceive that these wounds were made by suction, and not by 

 puncture, as might be supposed. The blood that is drawn in cases of this descrip- 

 tion does not come from the veins or from the arteries, because the wound does not 

 extend so far, but from the capillary vessels of the skin, extracted thence, without 

 doubt, by these bats, by the action of sucking or licking. No one in our neigh- 

 bourhood fears these animals, or gives himself any trouble about them ; notwith- 

 standing a prevalent and most absurd report, that, previously to sucking the blood 

 of their victim, they flap their wings upon the part intended for banquet, for the 

 purpose of lulling and deadening its sensibility Hist. Nat. of Paraguay, ii. 273. 



* With a tail, but always shorter than the interfemoral membrane. 



P. crenulatum, Geoff. Desm. Nasal appendage with dentated mar- 

 gins ; end of the tail free. About two inches long ; extended 

 wings about a foot. Ann. Mus. xv. pi. 10. 



P. elongatum, Geoff. Desm. Nasal leaf with smooth margins ; end 

 of the tail free. About three inches long ; spread of the wings 

 15 inches Ann. Hits. xv. pi. 9. 



P. hastatum, Geoff. Besm. (Vesperlilio hastaius, Lin.) Nasal leaf 

 with smooth borders ; tail wholly enveloped in the interfemoral 

 membrane. Nearly four inches long; spread of the wings about a 

 foot and a half. A series of warts in the form of a V on the base 

 of the under lip. Inhabits Guiana.- A nn. Mus. xv. pi. 11. 



P. planirostra } Spix. Head thick,, depressed above ; side of the 

 nose tubercular ; front of the nasal leaf free, pendulous ; lips an- 

 nulated on the edges ; chin short, flattish. Body nearly four in- 

 ches long. Inhabits Brazil Spix, Braz. 36. f. 1. 



** Without a tail. 

 P. perspicillatus, Geoff. Desm. (Vesp. perspicillatum, Lin.) Spec- 



