MAMMALIA—BAT. 93 
of the body and the colors of the hair. The roussette, whose hair is of a 
reddish vrown, is in length nine inches from the tip of the nose to the inser- 
tion of the tail, and in breadth three or even four feet, when the membranes, 
which serve it for wings, are fully extended. The rougette, whose hair is 
‘of a reddish ash-color, is hardly more than five inches and a half in length, 
and two feet in breadth; and its neck is half encircled with a stripe of hair 
of a lively red, intermixed with orange color, of which we perceive no ves- 
tige on the neck of the roussette. They both belong nearly to the same hot 
climates of the old continent. We meet with them in Madagascar, in the 
island of Bourbon, in Ternate, in the Philippine and other islands of the 
Indian Archipelago, where, indeed, they seem to be more common than in 
the neighboring continents. 
The smell of these creatures 1s ranker than that of a fox, yet the Indians 
consider them as delicious food, and the French who reside in the Isle of 
Bourbon, even boil them in their soup to give it a relish! The hair 
of the vampire bat, interwoven with threads of cyperus squamosus, is 
used by the natives of New Caledonia for making ropes and the tassels of 
their clubs. 
In the hotter countries of the New World, and in some of the islands 
of the Pacific Ocean, we likewise meet with another flying quadruped, 
of which we know not the American name, but to which we will affix 
the denomination of spectre, because it sucks the blood of men, and of 
animals, while they are asleep, without causing even. sufficient pain to 
awake them. 
The spectre is smaller than the rougette, which is itself smaller than the 
roussette. The former, when it flies, seems to be of the size of a pigeon; 
the second, of the size of a raven; and the third, of the size of a large hen. 
Of both, the roussette and the rougette, the head is tolerably well shaped ; 
the ears are short, and the nose is very round, and nearly in form like that 
of adog. Of the spectre, on the contrary, the nose is more elongated ; the 
aspect is as hideous as that of the ugliest bats; the head is unshapely, and 
the ears large, very open, and very straight; its nose is disfigured ; its nos- 
trils resemble a funnel, and have a membrane at the top, which rises up in 
the form of a sharp horn, or cock’s comb, and greatly heightens the deformi- 
ty of its face. 
There is no doubt, therefore, but that the species of the spectre is different 
‘rom those of the roussette and the rougette. It is an animal not less mis- 
ehievous than it is deformed ; it is the pest of man, the torment and destruc- 
ion of animals. In confirmation of this truth, a more authentic testimony 
cannot be produced than that of M. dela Condamine. “The bats,” says he, 
“which suck the blood of norses, of mules, and even of men, when they do 
not guard against it by sleeping under the shelter of a pavilion, are a scourge 
common to most of the hot countries of America. Of these there are some 
of a monstrous size. At Borja, and several other places, they have entirely 
