440 BATS. 



membrane connecting the whole of the Hmbs and tail, the 

 thumb of the fore-paws and the hind-feet alone being left 

 free. This membrane, though wonderfully delicate, is fur- 

 nished with minute blood-vessels. It also possesses a system 

 of nerves of the most exquisite power of sensation, which 

 enables it to fly rapidly among the boughs and foliage, avoid- 

 ing all impediments even in the darkest hours of night. The 

 vampire can run along the gTound and climb trees by means 

 of the sharp hooks on the fore-paws. They sleep, however, 

 like ordinary bats, hanging by their hind-feet — being thus 

 able at a moment's notice to take to flight. 



Of the other species, some have the fur of a blackish colour, 

 some of a ruddy hue. 



When fl3"ing, the larger ones wheel heavily round and 

 round, somewhat in the manner of a pigeon, so that they may 

 easily be mistaken for birds. Although they live largely on 

 insects, they also greedily devour fruits ; indeed, some species 

 live chiefly on them. Bates opened the stomach of several, 

 and found them to contain a mass of pulp and seeds of fruit, 

 mingled with a few remains of night insects. On comparing 

 the seeds taken from their stomachs with those of cultivated 

 trees, he found that they were unlike any of them : he con- 

 cludes, therefore, that they resort to the forest to feed, coming- 

 only to human habitations in the morning to sleep, where 

 they find themselves more secure from animals of prey than 

 in their natural abodes in the woods. 



