ORDER CARNASSIER. 125 



was a necessity with this genus of the bats, and he was ac- 

 quainted with two species. 



It is not true, however, that the wounds which they in- 

 flict on men are so dangerous as Father Jumilla relates. It 

 is impossible, indeed, to believe that the feeble effort 

 which they make to draw a few drops of blood, could be 

 attended with such pernicious consequences ; but the testi- 

 mony of d'Azzara is positive on this head, and must set the 

 question at rest. " No one," says he, " in our neighbour- 

 hood, fears these animals, or gives himself any trouble 

 about them ; notwithstanding a prevalent and most ab- 

 surd report, that previously to sucking the blood of their 

 victim, they flap their wings upon the part intended for 

 banquet, for the purpose of lulling and deadening its sensi- 

 bility." 



Pison was the first who presented us with any researches 

 on the phyllostomata, of which he gave a notice rather 

 than a detailed description of two species, under the Bra- 

 zilian names of andira and andira-guacu. He has spoken, 

 however, at sufficient length to prove that the figure 

 placed in front of his description belonged to no animal 

 brought from Brazil. This figure represents a roussette, 

 which the editors of Pison's book procured in some of the 

 cabinets of Europe, and took for a vampire, in consequence 

 of its size. 



Sloane appears to have found the andira again at Ja- 

 maica, or the smallest of the two above-mentioned species. 



But these two species were not truly known until Seba 

 gave figures of them, and Linnaeus described them, together 

 with a third species, in his catalogue of animals, under the 

 names of Vesp . spectrum, V. perspicillatus, and V. spasma. 

 The only deficiency of these figures, which are all of the 

 natural size, is that the interfemoral membrane has been 

 represented of a square cut, and is destitute of the long 

 osselets which support it. 



