j 22 ZOOLOGICAL SKETCHES. 



almost justified; the insectivorous achievements of other 

 bats cannot atone for the sins of the vampire. To many 

 people the musical preludes of a mosquito seem to 

 aggravate the hatefulness of its visits; but the abso- 

 lute noiselessness of a vampire is a great deal worse : 

 a tickling sensation, becoming gradually stinging and 

 painful, or the dripping of a blood-drenched hammock, 

 is the first indication of its presence, and to persons of 

 a nervous temperament the mere suspicion of that pres- 

 ence is almost intolerable. Near the haunts of the 

 ghoul-bat a flitting shadow on a moonlit wall is often 

 sufficient to banish sleep for the rest of the night. In 

 the lowlands of the tropics the airiest bedrooms are 

 generally the most popular, and where people sleep in 

 the open air the vampire has it much his own way. 

 Veils and gauze stockings, however, afford at least a 

 partial protection, by obliging the blood-sucker to use 

 his teeth instead of his tongue, and thus awakening the 

 sleeper in time, the painfulness of the preventive being 

 outweighed by the pleasure of revenge, — " un piacer 

 che vaglia mil tormentos." I knew an apiarist who 

 carried business, or Buddhism, to the length of " easing 

 off" a stinging bee instead of smashing it ; but Uncle 

 Toby himself would not have spared a captured vampire. 

 Bonpland recommends an ointment of peppermint oil, 

 and the Guahiba Indians of the Lower Orinoco post a 

 sentry, — a watch-dog who has to pass the night in a 

 basket suspended from the lintel of the open door. To 



