36 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. » 



Megaderma lyra which have the reputation of being cannibalistic. 

 The various families are "The Horseshoe Bats,'' "The 

 Nycteridae," "The Vespertilionidae," "The Emballonuridse," 

 and "The Phyllostomidae. 



rpjig The common English bats belong to the 



Common Vespertilionidse. The Pipistrelle feeds upon 

 EngUsii Bats, j^gg^ts but will eat flesh if opportunity serves. 

 In his "Natural History of Selbourne," Mr. White describes 

 a tame bat which he saw, which would take flies out of a 

 person's hand. "If you gave it anything to eat," he says, 

 "it brought its wings round before the mouth, hovering and 

 hiding its head in the manner of birds of prey when they 

 feed. The adroitness it showed in shearing off the wings 

 of the flies, which were always rejected, pleased me much. 

 Insects seemed to be most acceptable, though it did not 

 refuse raw flesh when offered; so that the notion that bats 

 go down chimneys and gnaw men's bacon seems no improbable 

 story." The Long-eared Bat, Plecotus auritus, is also common 

 in England. "Its ears," says Mr. Wood, " are about an inch 

 and a half in length and have a fold in them reaching almost 

 to the lips," hence its name. "It is very easily tamed." 

 The T^^ Vampire Bat which belongs to South 



Vampire America has been invested with a halo of romance 

 * ■ by the stories which have been told about its 

 sanguinary character. "It lives," says the Rev. J. G. Wood, 

 " on the blood of animals, and sucks usually while its victim 

 sleeps. The extremities, where the blood flows freely, as the 

 toe of a man, the ears of a horse, or the combs and wattles 

 of fowls, are its favourite spots. When it has selected a 

 subject, on which it intends to feed, it watches until the 

 animal is fairly asleep. It then carefully fans its victim with 

 its wings while it bites a little hole in the ear or shoulder, 

 and through this small aperture, into which a pin's head 

 would scarcely pass, it contrives to abstract sufficient blood 

 to make a very ample meal. The wound is so small, and 



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