THE INDIAN VAMPIRE THE RAT-TAILED BAT 183 



THE INDIAN VAMPIRE 



(Megaderma lyra) 



THIS belongs to a different family from the true American Vampires, but is also a 

 blood-sucker, though it goes about its business in a different way. It is a fairly 

 large Bat, bigger than any British species, with a small nose-leaf, fairly large eyes, 

 and enormous ears, joined to each other at the base. Its fur is of a peculiar blue- 

 grey colour. This animal, which is common in India and Burma, preys on other 

 Bats of smaller size than itself, on small birds, and on Frogs, sucking the blood of 

 its victims, and eating up their flesh and even many of the bones, for it has great 

 power of jaw and very strong teeth; it appears never to attack large animals. It 

 has a gruesome habit of bringing its prey into houses to eat it perhaps to escape 

 being robbed of it by Owls so that fragments of its victims, especially the 

 hind-quarters, may often be found in bungalows near its haunts. I have kept 

 this animal in captivity in India, and it has been brought to England, but never 

 exhibited in the Zoological Gardens, any more than the true Vampire. There are 

 other species of Megaderma found in Africa and Australia, all probably with similar 

 carnivorous habits. 



THE FISHING BAT 



(Noctilio leporinus] 



IT is hardly worth while here to detail the characteristics of the different families of 

 insectivorous Bats, but some species, like the above, need mention on account of 

 peculiarities in habit or form. That a Bat should catch fish is so remarkable a fact 

 that it deserves notice, but the present animal habitually gets its food in this way, 

 haunting either fresh water or the sea, and snatching up its prey with its feet, which 

 are unusually large for a Bat and furnished with correspondingly large claws. The 

 teeth have much the appearance of those of a rodent, there being two large incisors 

 in the upper jaw, concealing a small pair behind them, and only one pair in the 

 lower jaw. This is a large species for the group of Bats to which it belongs, being 

 as big as some of the smaller Fruit-Bats. 



THE RAT-TAILED BAT 



(Rhinopoma microphylum) 



IN most Bats, except the Fruit-Bats and blood-sucking Vampires, the tail is of 

 considerable length, but not very noticeable, because it is usually included in the 

 membrane stretching between the hind-legs. In one family {Emballonurida), how- 

 ever, to which ' present and the last species belong, it protrudes outside or beyond 

 this skin. In the Rat-Tailed Bat, which is a small delicately-formed species, the tail 

 is as long in proportion as a Mouse's, and the membrane between the legs, being 



