M/VMMIFEROUS ANIMALS. 331 



four incisor teeth in each jaw, according to Lin- 

 naeus, but Stedman gives it four in the upper, 

 and six in the lower jaw, with large solitary ca- 

 nines or tusks, and many obtuse grinders. The 

 nostrils in front resemble a funnel, bending up- 

 wards into a ianceolated leaf, where it forms a 

 thick and elongated kind of cushion with mem- 

 branous edges, that altogether give the animal 

 that hideous aspect, which has so much attract- 

 ed the attention of travellers. 



Its tongue is very remarkable, representing in 

 length and narrowness, the tongue of the Ant 

 Eater, which, like that animal, it has the power 

 of thrusting out very far. Its surface is lightly 

 shagreeued, and close to its extremity, may be 

 seen an organ which seems adapted to suction, 

 as it consists of a cavity terminating in a point, 

 the circuit of which is marked by eight warts. 

 The remaining portion of its conformation,differs 

 only, in a few particulars, from the other Bats, 

 which, however unseemly in their appearance, 

 bear no comparison with the Vampyre Eat of 

 America ; whose hideous and disgusting aspect, 

 combined with its established propensity to suck 

 the blood of other animals, (the human subject 

 not excepted,) has rendered it the just object 

 of terror to those strangers who have visited the 

 countries in which it is to be found. 



That the Vampyre Bat has this propensity, 

 has been confirmed by the testimonies of the 



