ClIAF. I.] 



NYCTERIBIA. 



161 



Lepus nigricollis, F. Cuv. 

 Hystrix leucorus, Sykes. 



Edentata. 



Manis pentadactyla, Linn. 



P a chy d e rmat a . 



Elephas Indicus, Linn. 

 Sas Indicus, Gray. 

 Zeylonicus, Blyth. 



Ruminantia. 

 Moschns meminna, Erxl. 

 Stylocerus muntjac, Horsf. 

 Axis maculata, H. Smith. 

 Rusa Aristotelis, Cuv. 



Cetacea. 

 Halicore dugung, F. Cuv. 



NOTE (A.) 

 Parasite of the Bat. 



One of the most curious peculiarities connected with the bats 

 is their singular parasite, the Nycteribia. 1 t)n cursory obser- 

 vation, this creature appears to have neither head, antenna?, eyes, 

 nor mouth ; and the earlier observers of its structure satisfied 

 themselves that the place of the latter was supplied by a cylin- 

 drical sucker, which, being placed between the shoulders, the 

 creature had no option but to turn on its back to feed. An- 

 other anomaly was thought to compensate for this apparent 

 inconvenience: its three pairs of legs, armed with claws, 

 being so arranged that they seemed to be equally distributed 

 over its upper and under sides, the creature being thus enabled 

 to use them like hands, and to grasp the strong hairs above it 

 while extracting its nourishment. It moves, in fact, by rolling 

 itself rapidly along, rotating like a wheel on the extremities of its 

 spokes, or like the clown in a pantomime hurling himself forward 

 on hands and feet alternately. Its celerity is so great that Colonel 

 Montague, who was one of the first to describe it minutely 2 , 

 says its speed exceeds that of any known insect, and as its 

 joints are so flexible as to yield in every direction (like what 

 mechanics call a "ball and socket"), its motions are exceed- 

 ingly grotesque as it tumbles through the fur of the bat. 



To enable it to attain its marvellous velocity, each foot is 



1 This extraordinary creature had . them in Ceylon in great abundance 



formerly been discovered only on a j on the fur of the Scotophilug Coro- 



few European bats. Joinville figured mandelicus, and they will, no doubt, 



one which he found on the large be found on many others, 



roussette (the flying-fox), and says he i 2 Celeripes vespertilionis, Mont. 



had seen another on a bat of the same ! Lin. Trani. xi. p. 11, 

 family. Dr. Templeton observed ' 



VOL. I. M 



