440 BATS. 



membrane connecting the whole of the limbs and tail, the 

 thumb of the fore-paws and the hind-feet alone being left 

 free. This membrane, though wonderfully delicate, is fur- 

 nished with minute blood-vessels. It also possesses a system 

 of nerves of the most exquisite power of sensation, which 

 enables it to fly rapidly among the boughs and foliage, avoid- 

 ing all impediments even in the darkest hours of night. The 

 vampire can run along the ground and climb trees by means 

 of the sharp hooks on the fore-paws. They sleep, however, 

 like ordinary bats, hanging by their hind-feet — being thus 

 able at a moment's notice to take to flight. 



Of the other species, some have the fur of a blackish colour, 

 some of a ruddy hue. 



When Hying, the larger ones wheel heavily round and 

 round, somewhat in the manner of a pigeon, so that they may 

 easily be mistaken for birds. Although they live largely on 

 insects, they also greedily devour fruits ; indeed, some species 

 live chiefly on them. Bates opened the stomach of several, 

 and found them to contain a mass of pulp and seeds of fruit, 

 mingled with a few remains of night insects. On comparing 

 the seeds taken from their stomachs with those of cultivated 

 trees, he found that they were unlike any of them : he con- 

 cludes, therefore, that they resort to the forest to feed, coming 

 only to human habitations in the morning to sleep, where 

 they find themselves more secure from animals of prey than 

 in their natural abodes in the woods. 



