28 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Concerning the Cuban species, P. poeyi, Palmer (in Miller, 

 1904) found it "very abundant in a wet, ill-ventilated cavern 

 on Guanajay Mountain. On entering this cave, the vertical 

 opening of which, about 12 feet across, was concealed by 

 bushes, we descended about 25 feet, and were then standing 

 some 20 feet above the lowest level. The slight noise which we 

 made disturbed the bats in the inner chambers, and we could 

 distinctly hear the rumbling made by their wings. As we 

 proceeded this sound increased, until, when we reached the 

 inner and thickly populated chambers, it became a grand, 

 rushing roar of thousands on thousands of wildly flying animals. 

 To reach the inner chamber it was necessary for us to descend 

 from the first landing to the real floor of the cavern, and there 

 light our candles, for not a ray of light and very little fresh air 

 penetrated so far. From the floor we worked our way over 

 many guano-covered, damp bowlders and through arches and 

 narrow passages up to a sloping shelf, where, owing to the low 

 roof, a man could not stand upright. By this time the bad 

 air and excessive warmth was [were] telling on us, and we were 

 in a most profuse perspiration. The bats were now thoroughly 

 aroused, and the noise of their wings was astounding. Many 

 were darting out through the passage by which we had entered 

 . . . We began swinging a dip net in every direction, 

 trusting to chance to secure specimens. About fifteen minutes 

 of such work usually resulted in the capture of 20 to 30 bats, 

 nearly all of this species . . . Before June 7, all the females 

 were big with a single young, but after this date we found the 

 pink, almost hairless little ones of different sizes hanging to the 

 roof and scattered over much of its surface. On our last visit, 

 late in June, the cave was so hot as to be unbearable . 

 Among the specimens captured at the mouth of the damp cave 

 near Baracoa . . . were many of this species . . . On 

 one side of the vertical opening of this cave grew a large tree 

 whose roots descended like a stream into the cavity. The 

 people of the neighborhood assured me that the majas (the 

 Cuban boa, Epicrates angulifer) coil themselves among these 

 roots and grab at the bats as they fly out. I was told that a 

 snake frequently secures a bat in this manner." 



