70 MR, W. OSBURN ON THE BATS OF JAMAICA. ([Jan. 24, 
were most cruelly mauled and killed. From the fierceness with 
which this little fellow bit my fingers, drawing blood from the back 
of my hand, he seemed the chief assailant. Its activity when first 
taken out of the bag was beyond anything I had seen with Chei- 
roptera, running round the box by a series of little jumps, with almost 
the quickness of a mouse, and jumping with all the agility of a 
bird. On placing it beneath a glass after its first efforts had a little 
subsided, I saw its tongue projected very rapidly to the board. 
It seemed to me to be using an additional sense to ascertain the 
nature of the unusual substance on which it was resting. It fre- 
quently stretched its neck and head upwards, the nose-leaf and round 
ears in motion, as if trying to ascertain whether there were an aper- 
ture above, its bright little eyes peering with eagerness, and panting 
likeamouse. The motion of the ears was by sudden jerks, and often 
alternate one to the other, as in Artibeus carpolegus. The motion of 
the nose-leaf was a rapid contraction and dilatation. The activity 
especially commenced at a quarter past five p.m. The likeness of the 
pencilled tongue to that of the Trochilide suggested to me that this 
little Bat in the same way probed night-blowing flowers. Towards 
evening I got some of the large drooping flowers of Datura arborea, 
in which I first ascertained were some minute insects. It took no 
notice of them so long asI watched it. In the morning I found the 
large stamens bitten off, but it was lying across the flower. It 
then, for the first time, occurred to me that the powerful teeth that 
scratched my hand could not have been intended for masticating 
minute insects. 
** There was another bird with a pencilled tongue familiar to me, 
Tanagrella ruficollis; and this was a frugivorous bird. Might not 
this protractile tongue be for the same purpose of sucking juicy 
fruits? That this was the right hypothesis seemed the more pro- 
bable, as then the similarity of its short round ears and nose-leaf to 
those of other frugivorous Bats would be accounted for. I then 
recollected that the yellow pulp I found in the stomachs and intes- 
tines of two former specimens was in appearance precisely like that I 
was familiar with in the alimentary canal of Tanagrella and Euphonia. 
It was unlucky this did not occur to me before, as the captive was 
already much fatigued with confinement and inflammation at the 
wrists. I offered it orange, but it took no notice. A little water, the 
night before, was allit had had. This it sucked up by repeated pro- 
jections of the tongue a little beyond the muzzle, and with a satisfied 
purring noise. ‘Towards evening it was more lively, and it. acciden- 
tally got off and gave me a long chase. Flight seemed to refresh it. 
I then tried orange again, and had the pleasure of seeing the tongue 
protruded out of the groove of the lower jaw, whilst it certainly licked 
up a little of the juice ; and there was a slight action of the body, like 
that of an animal feeding. But it was much exhausted, and it was 
only by close watching I could detect these movements. Every now 
and then there was an impatient toss of the head, which made me long 
doubtful of its really feeding; but I think it was that, in the unna- 
tural attitude of feeding, some of the juice got into the nostrils and 
arok Lodk 
aes. ¢- 
4 
