MAMMALS. 613 



annoyance of the inhabitants, and requiring no little labor to clear the 

 premises of them. Observations on their habits are few : were these 

 animals better known, we should doubtless find that they presented many 

 and interesting differences ; but there is a great similarity in the broader 

 features, so that a general description of one will answer for all. 



A little brown bat which I kept some time in confinement was at first 

 very pugnacious when first taken, squeaking and trying to use its small 

 but sharp teeth when tormented, but after a few days it became more 

 reconciled. I fed it at first with minced beef and an occasional fly ; but 

 one day I found that a bit of, beef left in the cage had begun to decay, and 

 this attracted flies, acting in fact as a trap, of which the bat took full 

 advantage. As a fly entered the cage, the bat would knock it down with 

 its wings, and then with these members spread would settle down over it 

 so as to prevent its escape. Then the head would be inserted beneath the 

 membrane, and in a few seconds would be brought out with the fly in the 

 jaws. 



Bats carry their young about with them. In some this is accomplished 

 by the baby bats clinging to the fur of the mother, while in another, which 

 has a naked body, nursing-pouches for the young are developed. When 

 resting, the mother folds her wings about the young. When the young, 

 at least in some species, are born, the tail is drawn upwards, making a bag 

 of the membrane, which unites this member with the hind legs, and in 

 this the little ones are caught and kept from dropping to the ground. 

 Mention should be made of the peculiar appearance which bat hairs present 

 under the microscope, each species having its own distinctive features. 

 These hairs are well known to microscopists, and form a part of the collec- 

 tion of every amateur. 



The blood-sucking habit 01 some bats has been a subject of much dis- 

 cussion. For a time it was thoroughly believed, and one species was 

 selected as the embodiment of the tales. It was the species represented 

 in our cut, and it received in consequence the name Vam/pyrus spectrum, 

 the ghost-vampire. This was a rank libel on this innocent fruit-eating 

 form, and gradually the whole tale fell into disrepute. Then Darwin, in 

 his voyage in the l Beagle,' observed similar habits in a bat belonging to 

 another genus, found in Chili. He says : " The vampire bat is often the 

 cause of much trouble by biting the horses on their withers. The injury 

 is generally not so much owing to the loss of blood as the inflammation 

 which the pressure of the saddle afterwards produces. The whole circum- 

 stance has lately been doubted in England. I was therefore fortunate in 

 being present when one (Desmodus dorbignyi) was actually caught on the 

 horse's back. We were bivouacking late one evening near Coquimbo, in 



