94 



MAMMALIA— BAT. 



destroyed the large cattle which the missionaries had brought thither, and 

 which had begun to multiply." 



The roussette and rougette are larger, stronger, and perhaps yet more 

 mischievous than the spectre ; but it is by open force, and in the day as well 

 as in the night, that they commit hostilities. Fowls and small animals are 

 the objects of their destructive fury; they even attack men, and bite their 

 faces most cruelly. 



All these bats are animals carnivorous, voracious, and possessed of an 

 appetite for every thing that offers. In a dearth of flesh or fish, they feed on 

 vegetables and fruits of every kind. As they are fond of the juice of the palm 

 tree, so it is easy to take them by placing in the neighborhood of their retreat 

 a few vessels filled with palm tree water, or any other fermented liquor, 

 with which they intoxicate themselves. They fasten to, and suspend them- 

 selves from trees, with their claws. They are usually seen in troops, and 

 more so by night than by day ; places which are much frequented they shun ; 

 and their favorite residence is in the deserted parts of islands. 



I have frequently thought it worth while to examine how it is possible 

 that these animals should suck the blood of a person asleep, without causing, 

 at the same time, a pain so sensible as to awake him. Where they cut the 

 flesh with their teeth or with their claws, the pain of the bite would effectu- 

 ally rouse any of the human species, however soundly asleep. With their 

 tongue only, then, it is possible for them to make such minute apertures in 

 the skin, as to imbibe the blood through them, and to open the veins without 

 causing an acute pain. 





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The tongue of the spectre I have not had an opportunity to observe ; but 

 that of several roussettes, which Mr Daubenton has attentively examined, 

 seems to indicate the possibility of the fact. It is sharp, and full of prickles 

 directed backward ; and it appears that these prickles, or points, from their 

 exceeding minuteness, may be insinuated into the pores of the skin, may 



