1865.] MR. W. OSBURN ON THE BATS OF JAMAICA. 65 
rapid motion as if vibrating, and, what made it more curious, each 
independently of the other. It had a very curious effect, like a per- 
son rolling his eyes different ways. The nose-leaf had also a motion, 
but slighter. It looked as if he were feeling for sound and smell, to 
ascertain the nature of the attack. When placed under a glass, the 
same motion would take place on any sharp noise being made near 
him, which, however, he paid no attention to when repeated. Every 
now and then he would raise his head, agitate his ears; and I could 
then see a great motion in the nose-leaf preparatory to another vio- 
lent effort to escape. It uttered no sound whilst under my observa- 
tion, only opening its mouth and showing its formidable teeth, but 
would not bite. But whilst in the cave, I heard a loud cry several 
times repeated ; and one which escaped, on being caught again, 
uttered a loud scream very like a rat. It is no proof of the silence 
of Cheiroptera that they utter no sound in confinement.” 
2 “ Montego Bay, 16th May, 1859. 
‘A picturesque little cave, close to the town, I found abundantly 
inhabited by this and another species (no. 12).. The cave was not 
deep, though there were dark passages from it. This species, 
however, is by no means so particular about a thoroughly obscure 
retreat as many other species. They were here reposing in light 
sufficient for me to shoot them. The floor was strewn with berries 
the negroes call cherries, but which I presume to be the fruit of 
Cordia collococca. They were all munched, leaving only a small 
portion of pulp attached to the skin. Of the young of this Bat I 
did not observe anything remarkable ; it sucked my finger by gently 
nipping the portion of flesh taken up with its little flattened milk- 
incisors, but held on firmly by the hooked teeth.” 
“ Kinross, Trelawny, 25th May, 1859. 
** One example, a male. It was hardly a cave where I obtained 
the specimen. The steep wall of rock had been at its base hollowed 
out for 8 or 10 feet, leaving an overhanging mass 20 feet from the 
ground. When I first saw the recess, I felt convinced it was not 
dark enough for Bats, though a flock of Hirundo peciloma were 
hovering with alarmed twitterings, or peeping from their clay-built 
nests. A heap of dried seed, berries, husks, with some fresh ones on 
the top, showed the Bats were there. Amongst these last were gnawed 
fragments of unripe mangoes, and large pieces of the soft-scented 
fruit of the Rose-apple (Hugenia jambos). These last, I suspect, had 
not been plucked whole, but torn off in fragments. A swarm of a 
species of Sphex were hovering over the decaying mass, catching the 
insects which fed upon it. The Bats were at first nowhere visible ; 
but I at length discovered them in some deep narrow crevices and 
water-worn holes in the roof. I fired, and they proved to be of 
this very common species. It certainly does not seem such a lover 
of darkness as the generality of the family ; one of the species (4. 
jamaicensis) roosts among the foliage of trees, or is subumbral, A 
Proc. Zoo. Soc.—1865, No. V. 
