OEDEE OF CHEIEOPTEEA. 533 



whicli is the consequence of the wounds, is a cause of debility, and 

 might bring about disastrous consequences. 



The naturalist Azara, who observed a large number of these 

 American Bats, has afforded us valuable information concerning 

 their habits. It is usually on the croup, shoulders, or neck, that 

 they bite beasts of burden, because there they find a secure 

 resting-place. The wounds they inflict are neither extensive 

 nor deep, but small incisions made by the horny papillae with 

 which their tongue is armed, and which only puncture the skin. 

 The blood, therefore, with which Vampires gorge themselves 

 comes, not from the veins or arteries, but from the capillary 

 vessels of the skin. They sometimes attack sleeping poultry, and 

 bite them on the crest, or the other appendages which decorate 

 their heads. Most frequently gangrene of the wound supervenes 

 in these subjects, and death follows. 



Azara fully confirms their sanguinary proclivities with regard 

 to Man, having himself on several occasions experienced their 

 effects. At four diflPerent times this naturalist had his toes bitten 

 when he was obliged to sleep in the open air. But the sensation 

 was so painless that he did not awake, and knew nothing of his 

 mishap until morning. He suffered from the eflfects of these 

 wounds for some days, although he did not think it necessary 

 to pay any attention to them. 



The same traveller adds that Vampires do not live on blood 

 except when insects are scarce. He also gives an opinion, but 

 without mentioning it as his own, or expressing his belief in it, 

 but which is credited by the natives, that in order to lessen the 

 sensation of pain in their victims, these animals fan with their 

 wings the part they are about to wound. 



A contemporaneous naturalist, M. de Tschudi, who travelled in 

 Peru, also studied the Cheiroptera. He says that it is common 

 enough to find cattle which have been bitten by a PhyUostoma 

 during the night, in a very miserable plight in the morning. 

 It was not without great trouble, and constant friction of 

 the injured part, that M. Tschudi was able to save one of his 

 Mules which had been wounded in this manner. On another 

 occasion, an inebriated Indian was bitten in the face, and such an 

 amount of inflammation ensued that his features were scarcely 

 recognisable. 



