46 ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



" is an imaginary monster^ supposed to suck the blood 

 of sleeping persons. It also alludes to one of the most 

 absurd superstitions that ever entered into the human 

 mind. About the year 1732, an idea arose among the 

 vulgar in some parts of Poland and Hungary, that cer- 

 tain bodies, when interred, became possessed of the 

 power of absorbing blood from those who were so unfor- 

 tunate as to pass over or to stand near their graves : it 

 was therefore supposed necessary to disinter such bodies, 

 and wound them with a sword ; by which means this 

 pernicious power was supposed to be put a stop to, and 

 the blood they had so unjustly gained was evacuated. 

 Astonishing as this folly may appear, it is yet more 

 astonishing that a great many treatises were written on 

 the subject, and that some considerable time elapsed 

 before the superstition was completely destroyed." 



The Javanese vampire appears to have been once in 

 the possession of Mr. Cross, the very respectable and 

 intelligent proprietor ot the menagerie at Exeter Change; 

 since we possess a sketch, by Howitt, drawn from a 

 living specimen seen there by the artist. Dr. Horsfield, 

 in his valuable work on the animals of Java, gives us 

 some interesting particulars of its habits in a state of 

 nature, which we shall here condense. It may be pre- 

 mised, that this is one of the largest bats yet discovered, 

 being no less than one foot long, and covering an ex- 

 tent, when its wings are spread, of more than five feet. 

 In its habits it is completely gregarious, uniformly 

 living in society. Numerous individuals select a large 

 tree for a resort, where they suspend themselves from 

 the naked branches, often in companies of several hun- 

 dreds, and present a most singular spectacle. During 

 the greatest part of the day they are asleep : at such 

 times they are ranged in succession, in rows, with the 

 head downv/ards; and, being in close contact one to the 

 other, they have so little resemblance to living beings, 

 that a stranger would readily mistake them for a part of 

 the tree, or for a fruit of uncommon size suspended from 

 the branches. In general these societies, during the day. 



