BATS. 439 



they disappeared among the tiles ; but when all was quiet 

 again, they returned once more and extinguished the light. 

 The next night several got into his hammock, and on waking 

 in the morning he found a wound, evidently caused by one 

 of them, on his hip. There were altogether four species. One 

 of them (the Dysopes perotis) has enormously large ears, and 

 measures two feet from tip to tip of the wings. The natives, 

 however, assured him that it was the phyllostoma which had 

 inflicted the wound, and they asserted that it is the only 

 kind which attacks man. But Mr. Bates considers that 

 several kinds of bats have this propensity. 



Darwin, when travelling in Chili, noticing that one of the 

 horses was very restive, went to see what was the matter ; 

 and fancying that he could distinguish something, put his 

 hands on the beast's withers, and discovered a vampire-bat. 

 In the morning, the place where the wound had been inflicted 

 was easily distinguished by being slightly swollen and bloody. 



Waterton describes the mode in which the vampire -bat 

 makes the orifice through which to suck its victim's blood. 

 It does so by pressing gently the point of its sharp projecting 

 teeth, noiselessly circling round, and making them act the 

 part of a centre-bit, — performing the operation so quietly 

 that no pain is felt. He says, however, that at times they 

 commit a good deal of mischief. A young Indian boy suf- 

 fered greatly by being frequently attacked ; and the son of an 

 English gentleman was bitten so severely on the forehead, 

 that the wound bled freely on the following morning. The 

 fowls also suffered so terribly that they died fast ; and an 

 unfortunate jackass on whom they had set their fancy was 

 almost killed by inches. 



The vampire rises in the air by means of a wide flattened 



