84 MR. W. OSBURN ON THE BATS OF JAMAICA. (Jan. 24, 
another berry. The Bat was hanging from the edge of the box, its 
ventral surface against the side ; and as I held the berry a little off, 
so as to see the action of the tongue, it had, whilst feeding, to bend 
the neck, so as to raise the head a little: this seemed to fatigue it. 
It therefore raised itself on one wrist, and turned round so that its 
back was against the box’s side; but as it did not change the position 
of the feet, of course the legs crossed, the right foot now being on 
the left side, and vice versd. In this odd position it seemed per- 
fectly at ease, and went on licking at a fresh berry with great relish. 
Of course, only its chin was now visible to me. I then began gra- 
dually to lower the berry; it stretched first the neck and then the 
tongue to its fullextent. I took it beyond reach, and then suddenly 
brought it close again. It seized it with its teeth savagely, and 
then shifted it to one side of the mouth, so that the long sharp 
canines of one side and the blunt molars held the berry, much as a 
dog will do when he wishes to bring the force of the molars to bear 
onabone. This left room for the tongue still to be protruded ; for, 
from the arrangement of the minute lower incisors in a concave, the 
molars can be nearly closed, so as to hold an object, and the tongue 
still have room for protrusion. The little body trembled with the 
eagerness of his actions. As the pulp and juice he could thus 
reach became exhausted, I expected he would drop it, and was 
prepared with another berry; but, to my surprise, he brought up 
the wrists to the muzzle, took the berry between them, gave it two 
or three energetic bites, and then held the berry off. So I now 
understood what the unusually long thumbs were for; for they 
applied themselves dexterously to the berry, held it firmly, and 
then, as it appeared to me, by a reverse action of the two wrists the 
berry was turned round, a fresh hold taken by the teeth, and the 
same licking process renewed, till the seed in the centre was cleaned 
of the pulp, all but the little bit which served for the last tooth- 
hold. It was then dropped, and the eager little muzzle raised for 
more. 
«I supplied another, and soon I hada little heap of seeds, with bits 
of pulp attached, at the bottom of the box, exactly like those I found 
in the cave. A wounded Bat on the floor found some berries out 
and began to lick them. I next tried the female with a young one, 
with precisely the same result ; only, notwithstanding her eagerness 
for food and evidently hungry state, it was affecting to see how 
constantly’she stopped carefully to’ lick the little one at her breast, 
lest any spilt juice should soil it. When holding the berries in the 
wrists, their appearance reminded me much of monkeys. They 
now became very lively, evidently much refreshed by the meal, and 
began to snap at my fingers. I covered them up in darkness, which 
they seemed to want. On my return I found the young Bat which 
I had put in as an orphan had been taken by the other female, and 
was evidently sucking vigorously. It can hardly have happened 
that out of such a number I could have chosen mother and offspring 
by chance. Perhaps the old Bat, feeling the pressure of milk, in 
this way sought relief. The young were quite naked and blind, and 
