MAMMALIA 211 



evident, then, that our ordinary bats should not be molested but 

 should be encouraged. The experiment has been tried of furnishing 

 them with artificial shelters in which to spend the day, hoping in this 

 way to encourage them to remain in a given locality. 



Among the commoner bats of the United States are the Little Brown 

 Bat, Myotis lucifugus, Fig. 134, the Red Bat, Lasiurus (Atalapha) 

 noveboracensis , each about 3^ inches long and the Brown Bat, 

 Eptesicus fuscus, a slightly larger form. 



In some way two statements about the common bats have become 

 current; first, that they often entangle themselves in women's hair, 

 and second, that they bring bedbugs into houses. I have questioned 

 many men and women and have not found a single one who ever knew 

 of a specific case where a bat had become entangled in human hair. 

 I have also examined many bats, on one or two occasions, in the caves 

 where they were hibernating 'by the thousand, but never was a bed- 

 bug and seldom was any kind of a parasite seen. They are not very 

 attractive little animals, since they bite quite vigorously and often have 

 an unpleasant animal odor, but they are quite inoffensive if unmolested 

 and are, as has been said, highly beneficial as insect destroyers. 



In the regions where they abound, the large fruit-eating bats are 

 sometimes killed for their skins which are covered with soft fur. 



The Vampire Bats are inhabitants of South America; they injure 

 horses and cattle and other animals, especially the young, by sucking 

 their blood. It is reported that they may even attack a sleeping human 

 being, fanning him with their wings to insure sound slumbers, while 

 they puncture the skin of the victim's foot with their sharp front teeth 

 and then suck or lap the blood. The author does not vouch for this 

 story, however, especially the part about fanning the sleeper with their 

 wings. Beebe, 1 tells of sleeping in Guiana with Vampires flying in the 

 room without being molested; but White 1 reports being bitten on the 

 foot, while sleeping, by one of these bats, and advises sleeping under 

 nets. 



Carnivora. Flesh-eating Mammals. While most of the carniv- 

 ora, as the name would indicate, are flesh-eaters, some are omnivorous 

 and a few are vegetarians. The teeth of this order form the most 

 marked characteristic of this group. The incisors are usually small 

 and weak; the canines, or "eyeteeth," on the contrary, are long, 



1 Tropical Wild Life in British Guiana. N. Y. Zool. Society, 1917. 



