Q.6S NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Dexterous phiebotomists. 



good deed to bring two or three pieces of ord- 

 nance, and scour the trees, that the country 

 might be rid of such a plague." 



Dampier relates, that in one of the Philipine 

 islands he saw an incredible number of bats, so 

 large that none of his company could reach from 

 tip to tip of their wings, with their arms extended 

 to the utmost. The wings were of a mouse co- 

 lour, and the joints were furnished with sharp 

 crooked claws. At sun-set he says, these animals 

 used to take their flight in swarms, like bees, to 

 a neighbouring island ; where they were seen to 

 continue in immense numbers, till darkness ren- 

 dered them no longer visible. The whole of the 



O 



time from day-break in the morning till sun-rise, 

 they occupied in returning to their former place; 

 and this course they constantly pursued all the 

 time the ship remained stationed off that island. 



The vampyre bat is the most dexterous phle- 

 botomist in nature; as it imperceptibly insinuates 

 its aculeated tongue into a vein, and then sucks 

 the blood till it is satiated ; all the while fanning 

 with its wings, and agitating the air in so pleas- 

 ing a manner, as to throw the sufferer into a still 

 sounder sleep. It is therefore extremely danger- 

 ous to sleep abroad in the countries where these 

 animals are found; as persons attacked- by it 

 have sometimes been near passing from a sound 

 slumber to their eternal repose. 



Captain Stedman, during his stay at Surinam, 

 attacked in his sleep by a vnmpyre bat, as 



