Rhinolophid^.- 



-MAIIMALIA.- 



-?HYI,LOSTOjnD^. 



57 



THE NOBLE HORSE-SHOE BAT {Rliinolophus nobi- 

 lis). — This is one of the largest and rarest iodividiials 

 of the horse-shoe family, measuring four inches in 

 leugtb, and having from tip to tip of the wings a lateral 

 expansion of nearly twenty inches. It was first de- 

 scribed by Dr. Horefield, who informs us that in the 

 native language of the Javanese it is termed Kehhelik. 

 The body is clothed with a soft downy covering, the 

 hairs of the fur being extremely fine and long. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. Ogilby's description, the " nasal apparatus 

 consists of a broad membrane, stretching transversely 

 across the nose in the form of a shelf. The sides are 

 bounded by several parallel folds, and inferiorly it con- 

 stitutes a semicircular envelope, which has a short 

 obtusely rounded point in the middle." The colour 

 is brownish above and greyish beneath. In the British 

 Museum catalogue it is designated Hipposideros nolilis. 



Family III.— PHYLLOSTOMrD.a;. 



The Phyllostomes are, in common with the pre- 

 ceding family, possessed of complex nasal ajipendages. 

 The typical species have four incisors in each jaw, of 

 which the lower are very small, and are placed quite 

 in front of the four canines. The latter are remark- 

 ably large, the number of the molars being variable, 

 tliough there are generally five on either side of each 

 jaw. The tongue is flat, elongated, and extensile, and 

 clothed with papilla in such a manner as to produce a 

 kind of sucking organ, the lips being also provided with 

 rows of regularlj'-disposed tubercles. The ears are of 

 moderate size, and furnished with a tragus. The fore- 

 finger is composed of two phalanges, and the middle 

 finger of four. They have very considerable power of 

 running along the ground. The tail is generally short. 

 In some instances it is altogether absent. 



THE VAHPIEE BAT, (Phyllostoma spiedrum), Plate 

 5, fig. 18. — Few members of the great mammalian 

 series have excited more interest than this celebrated 

 bat. From the earliest times its blood-sucking quali- 

 ties have been memorialized ; and there can be little 

 doul)t, as will be presently shown, that its propensities 

 in this respect are truly formidable. In seeking food 

 they appear willing to attack any description of animal 

 coming within their reach ; exhibiting, however, a 

 special fondness for the blood of cattle, upon which 

 they fasten themselves while their victims are asleep. 

 (Jompared with many others ol the bat family, it is a 

 huge creature, about the size of a magpie, and measur- 

 ing upwards of two feet from the tip of one wing to 

 ihe other. With regard to the various accounts given 

 by travellers as to their ferocious and sanguivorous 

 habits, we prefer to select the authentic statements of 

 Mr. Stedman, who was himself bitten by a vampire, 

 not only on account of their circumstantiality, but also 

 because of the apparently trustworthy source from 

 which they proceed. Captain Stedman thus speaks 

 of these vampires: — "Knowing by instinct that the 

 person they intend to attack is in a sound slumber, 

 they generally alight near the feet, where, while the 

 creature continues fanning with its enormous wings, 

 which keeps one cool, he bites a piece out of the tip of 

 the great toe, so very small, indeed, that the head of a 

 Vol. I 



pin could scarce be received into the wound, which is 

 consequently not painful ; yet through this orifice he 

 continues to suck the blood until he is obliged to 

 disgorge. He then begins again, and thus continues 

 sucking and disgorging till he is scarcely able to fly ; 

 and the sufferer has often been known to sleep from 

 time into eternity. Cattle they generally bite in the 

 ear, but always in places where the blood flows spon- 

 taneously. Having applied tobacco-ashes as the best 

 remedy, and washed the gore from myself and my 

 hammock, I observed several small heaps of congealed 

 blood all round the place where I had lain upon the 

 ground, on examining which, the surgeon judged that 

 I bad lost twelve or fourteen ounces during the night." 

 Whatever may be thought of this narrative, it seems 

 generally agreed, that while certain of the Phyllosto- 

 mata live principally on the juices of fruits, there are 

 others that have a special appetite for the blood of the 

 higher animals, and even of man himself. From this 

 cii'cumstance it would mainly appear, that the supposed 

 existence of certain imaginary spectral monsters, termed 

 vampires, which, in all ages, have been believed in 

 and dreaded by the superstitious, has its origin in the 

 actual mode of life displayed by these creatures. A 

 distinguished writer has observed that, " upwards of 

 a century ago, there prevailed in several districts of 

 Hungary an epidemic dread of vampires, which lasted 

 some years, and gave birth to many extraordinary 

 stories. It was believed that in several places, those 

 among the dead who belonged to the class of vampires, 

 arose nightly from their graves and sucked the blood 

 of the living, who fell into consumptions and perished ; 

 that those who had died in this manner became infected 

 with vampirism ; and that the only way of exterminat- 

 ing the plague was by disinteriing all the suspected 

 vampires, and, if it were discovered that they exliibited 

 the tokens of their hideous character, burning them to 

 ashes, or driving a stake through their middle. The 

 attestations which these grotesquely fearful tales 

 received, are among the most singular instances of 

 human credulity recorded in all the annals of supersti- 

 tion. They are, in many instances, related on the 

 authority of the pastors, and other most credible 

 persons of villages and towns, who depose to having 

 been themselves witnesses of the scenes beheld on 

 opening the vampires' graves. Some, indeed, had 

 actually seen the spectres themselves on their nightly 

 excursions ; but more generally the subscriptions are 

 by persons present at the inspection of the dead bodies; 

 when, if tlie subject was a true vampire, he was gene- 

 rally found of a florid and bale complexion ; his hair, 

 head, and nails had grown ; his mouth, hands, etcetera, 

 were stained with fresh blood ; his eyes open and 

 brilliant. Sometimes when the stake was driven 

 through him, he was heard to utter cries like those of 

 a living person. It was believed that the consumption 

 produced by the sucking of the vampire could be cured 

 by eating earth from his grave." Such is a specimen 

 of the follies displayed by the profoundly ignorant and 

 superstitious. Surpassing strange it is, that intellectual 

 human beings can be sufficiently debased to allow a 

 suggestive idea to gain such entire possession of the 

 frame. That many of the parties believed what they 



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