THE PRIMATES. 457 



canines are very lai'ge and sharp, and the molars, which 

 are reduced to two above and three helow, on each side, 

 have their crowns converted into sharp longitudinally dis- 

 posed ridges, like the edges of scissors. In Desmodiis, the 

 very narrow oesophagus leads into a stomach which would 

 be of extremely small dimensions, were it not that its 

 cardiac end is dilated into a great sac, which is longer 

 than the body, and lies, folded up on itself, within the 

 cavity of the abdomen. Into this sac it would appear 

 that the blood swallowed by the animal at first passes, to 

 be thence slowly drawn along the intestine. 



Mr. Darwin* thus speaks of the habits of Desmodus 

 D'Orhignyi : 



" The Yampire Bat is often the cause of much trouble 

 by biting the horses on their withers. The injury is gene- 

 rally not so much owing to the loss of blood as to the in- 

 flammation which the pressure of the saddle afterwards 

 produces. The whole circumstance has lately been doiibted 

 in England. I was therefore fortunate in being present 

 when one was actually caught on a horse's back. We were 

 bivouacking late one evening near Coqiiimbo, in Chili, 

 when my servant, noticing that the horses were very rest- 

 less, went to see what was the matter, and fancying he 

 could distinguish something, suddenly put his hand on the 

 beast's withers and secured the Vampire. In the morning 

 the spot where the bite had been inflicted was easily distin- 

 guished, from being slightly swollen and bloody. The 

 third day aftei-wards we rode the horse without any ill 

 efl"ects." 



IV. The Primates. — The Primates have two pectoral 

 mammte, and, rarely, additional ones upon the abdomen. 

 Incisor and molar teeth are always present, and, with one 

 exception, canines. The incisors are never more than two, 

 nor are there more than three premolars and three molars, 

 on each side, above and below. 



Saving individual exceptions, which occur in one genus, 

 and may be regarded as abnormal, the hallux possesses a 

 * " Voyage of the Beagle," Mammalia, p, 2. 



& 



