NO. 5 MAMMALS OF PANAMA GOLDMAN 189 



is so little known in Middle America that the observations of Bates, 1 

 made at Ega on the upper Amazon many years ago seem worth 

 quoting. He says : " The vampire was here by far the most abun- 

 dant of the family of leaf-nosed bats Nothing in animal 



physiognomy can be more hideous than the countenance of this 

 creature when viewed from the front ; the large leathery ears stand- 

 ing out from the sides and top of the head, the erect spear-shaped 

 appendage on the tip of the nose, the grin and the glistening black 

 eye all combining to make up a figure that reminds one of some 

 mocking imp of fable. No wonder that imaginative people have 

 inferred diabolical instincts on the part of so ugly an animal. The 

 vampire, however, is the most harmless of all bats, and its inoffensive 

 character is well known to residents on the banks of the Amazon." 

 He found that the church at Ega was the headquarters of these bats 

 and adds : " I used to see them, as I sat at my door during the short 

 evening twilights, trooping forth by scores from a large open window 

 at the back of the altar, twittering cheerfully as they sped off to the 

 borders of the forest. They sometimes enter houses ; the first time 

 I saw one in my chamber, wheeling heavily round and round, I mis- 

 took it for a pigeon, thinking that a tame one had escaped from the 

 premises of one of my neighbors. I opened the stomachs of several 

 of these bats, and found them to contain a mass of pulp and seeds of 

 fruits, mingled with a few remains of insects." The insects were 

 species of Coleoptera. 



Specimens examined : Boqueron, 2. 2 



Subfamily GLOSSOPHAGINAE 

 Genus GLOSSOPHAGA Geoffroy 

 The genus Glossophaga typifies the subfamily Glossophagince 

 which includes six other genera, mainly tropical in distribution. The 

 members of the group are small bats characterized externally by 

 elongated muzzle, small nose leaf, short, rounded ears, notched lower 

 lip, and short tail protruding slightly from the upper side of the 

 moderately developed interfemoral membrane. In external appear- 

 ance Glossophaga bears a striking resemblance to Lonchophylla, a 

 member of the same subfamily, and accurate determinations must be 

 based on the examination of skulls. The skull is shorter than in 

 Lonchophylla, and differs most notably in the possession of complete 

 zygomata. The median upper incisors are about as wide as high, and 



1 The Naturalist on the River Amazons, Vol. 2, pp. 332-333, 1863. 

 ' Collection Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 



