166 BATS 



flight; but the precise manner in which it is done remains to 

 be discovered. 



The True Vampire Bats. — By this name we seek to dis- 

 tinguish the bats which actually suck the blood of living 

 creatures from the so-called vampires which live on fruit. 

 In South America there are five species of true vampires, 

 three of which are known as the javelin bats, the others as 

 the short-nosed vampires. The centre of abundance of these 

 creatures appears to be the valleys of the Amazon and the 

 Rio Negro, and the adjacent regions; but one of the species 

 ranges all the way from Chile to Mexico. 



Of the true vampires, the Javelin Bat 1 is the one which 

 is most aggressive, and most dreaded. It bites horses and 

 cattle, usually on the shoulders, neck, or hind quarters, and 

 makes a wound in the skin of sufficient depth to cause blood 

 to flow freely, even after the bat has flown away. Naturally, 

 an animal that is thus preyed upon soon grows thin in flesh, 

 and becomes visibly weakened. On the island of Mucina, 

 in the delta of the Amazon, the serious injuries inflicted by 

 the Javelin Bats upon domestic animals have long been 

 known. 



But where true vampires are abundant, they do not con- 

 fine their attacks to domestic animals. Human beings are 

 occasionally called upon to pay blood tribute to the small 

 wing-handed demons of the air. Men are bitten at night, 

 when asleep, usually either upon the nose or the feet. With 

 its sharp-edged teeth, the creature makes a very small round 

 hole in the skin, and by means of mouth suction which must 



1 Phyl-los'to-ma has-ta'tum. 



