54 LECTURE II. 



vinced that this superstition was by no means con- 

 fined to the vulgar. We see, therefore, the pro- 

 priety of the Linnaean name Vampyre or Blood- 

 Sucker applied to this kind of Bat. 



It is also to be observed, that the propensity 

 to sucking the blood of animals is not in reality 

 confined to the Vampyre bats, but is practised by 

 many other species; and even the common bats 

 of Europe are said to possess a similar faculty. 

 Some of the large animals of this genus are well 

 represented in the superb work of Seba, entitled 

 Thesaurus rerum Naturalium, and are repeated, 

 on a smaller scale, in Schreber's work on the 

 Mammalia. 



Bats are animals that lie torpid during the 

 winter months; sometimes concealing themselves 

 singly in any convenient cavity, and sometimes 

 hanging together in clusters under rocks, in ca- 

 verns, and sheltered places. When thus taken, 

 in a torpid state, the circulation of the blood is 

 not to be perceived by the microscope in the 

 vessels of the membrane of the wings ; but on the 



vinced of the existence of these beings, and expressed high dis- 

 pleasure against Sir Robert Walpole for speaking irreverently of 

 Vampyrcs. 



