1842.] on the North-Western Frontier. 255 



of the country is earnestly solicited, since it is only by wide -spread 

 observations that justice can be done to the subject, and such obser- 

 vations it is quite impossible for any single individual to collect 

 satisfactorily. 



Saharanpore, 5th April, 1842. 



Notice of the predatory and sanguivorous habits of the Bats of the genus 

 Megaderma, with some Remarks on the blood-sucking propensities of 

 other Vesper tilionidod. By Edward Blyth, Curator to the Asiatic 

 Society. 



Chancing, one evening, to observe a rather large Bat enter an out- 

 house, from which there was no other egress than by the door-way, 

 I was fortunate in being able to procure a light, and thus to proceed to 

 the capture of the animal. Upon finding itself pursued, it took three or 

 four turns round the apartment, when down dropped what at the 

 moment I supposed to be its young, and which I deposited in my hand- 

 kerchief. After a somewhat tedious chase, I then secured the object of 

 my pursuit, which proved to be a fine pregnant female of Megaderma lyra. 

 I then looked to the other Bat which I had picked up, and to my consi- 

 derable surprise, found it to be a small Vespertilio, nearly allied to the 

 European V. pipistrellus , which is exceedingly abundant not only here, 

 but apparently throughout India, being the same, also, to all appear- 

 ance, as a small species which my friend Dr. Cantor procured in Chu- 

 san : the individual now referred to was feeble from loss of blood, which 

 it was evident the Megaderma had been sucking from a large and still 

 bleeding wound under and behind the ear ; and the very obviously suc- 

 torial form of the mouth of the Vampyre was of itself sufficient to hint 

 the strong probability of such being the case. During the very short 

 time that elapsed before I entered the out-house, it did not appear 

 that the depredator had once alighted ; but I am satisfied that it sucked 

 the vital current from its victim as it flew, having probably seized it on 

 the wing, and that it was seeking a quiet nook where it might devour 

 the body at leisure. I kept both animals wrapped separately in my 

 handkerchief till the next morning, when procuring a convenient cage, I 

 first put in the Megaderma, and after observing it some time, I placed the 



