VAMPIRE BATS 



63 



bats, the others as the short-nosed vampires. 

 The centre of abundance of these creatures ap- 

 pears to be the valleys of the Amazon and the Rio 

 Negro, and the adjacent regions; but one of the 

 species ranges all the way from Chile to Mexico. 



Of the true vampires, the Javelin Bat 1 is 

 the one which is most aggressive, and most 

 dreaded. It bites horses and cattle, usually on 

 the shoulders, neck or hindquarters, and makes 

 a wound in the skin of sufficient depth to cause 

 blood to flow freely, even after the bat has flown 

 away. Naturally, an animal that is thus preyed 

 upon soon grows thin in flesh, and becomes 

 visibly weakened. On the island of Mucina, in 

 the delta of the Amazon, the serious injuries in- 

 flicted by the Javelin Bats upon 

 domestic animals have long been 

 known. 



But where true vampires are 

 abundant, they do not confine 

 their attacks to domestic animals. 

 Human beings are occasionally 

 called upon to pay blood tribute 

 to the small wing-handed demons 

 of the air. Men are bitten at 

 night, when asleep, usually either 

 upon the nose, or the feet. With 

 its sharp-edged teeth, the creat- 

 ure makes a very small round 

 hole in the skin, and by means of 

 mouth suction which must be quite powerful, 

 the blood is soon flowing freely. Fortunately, 

 blood-poisoning is not an attendant evil of the 

 Vampire's bite, and the wound seldom becomes 

 painful. 



The common Javelin Bat measures a little 

 less than 4 inches in length of head and body, 

 and in color is reddish brown. All the other 

 true vampires are smaller, and all are practically 

 tailless, the parachute membrane stretching 

 between the legs, quite down to the feet, without 

 the support of tail vertebrae. Naturally, these 

 creatures are widely known ; for any bat which 

 lives upon warm blood, always drawn from a liv- 

 ing fountain, is bound to acquire wide notoriety 

 and a very evil reputation. The skull of a Jave- 

 lin Bat, seen in profile, looks very much like the 

 skull of a miniature wolf. 



In order to illustrate once more how easily 

 a harmless animal can acquire an evil reputa- 

 1 Phj/1-hs'to-ma, has-ta'tum. 



tion, and further emphasize the necessity of tak- 

 ing direct evidence before pronouncing a verdict, 

 we introduce a 28-inch bat from South America, 

 most unjustly called the Great Vampire, a but 

 not really belonging to the genus of blood-suck- 

 ers. Mr. H. W. Bates, the "Naturalist on the 

 Amazon," lived for a time where this species was 

 quite abundant, and of it he wrote in his book as 

 follows : 



"Nothing in animal physiognomy can be 

 more hideous than the countenance of this creat- 

 ure when viewed from the front; the large, 

 leathery ears standing out from the sides and top 

 of the head; the erect, spear-shaped appendage 

 [nose-leaf] on the tip of the nose, the grin, and the 



BONNETED BAT. 

 Promops californicus. (After Harrison Allen.) 



glistening black eye, all combining to make up 

 a figure that reminds one of some mocking imp 

 in a fable. [The very savage-looking canine 

 teeth might well have been mentioned, also.] 

 No wonder that imaginative people have in- 

 ferred diabolical instincts on the part of so ugly 

 an animal. The Vampire, however, is the most 

 harmless of all bats." Mr. Bates opened the 

 stomachs of a number of specimens, and found 

 that "they had been feeding chiefly on fruits," 

 and wild fruits, at that, obtained by honest 

 hunting in the depths of the forest. 



Moral: Never make an affidavit on the food 

 habits of wild animals without first examining 

 the stomachs of several specimens. 



THE FAMILY OF FREE-TAILED BATS. 



Emballonuridae. 

 The bats belonging to this Family have no 

 nose-leaves, and the tail is partly free from the 

 2 Vam-py'rus spec'trum. 



