WHAT ARE BATS? 
235 
size, called flying foxes , of which we have specimens now living 
in the Zoological Gardens. They are conhned to the tropical 
and subtropical regions of the Old World and the Pacific, but are 
not found even in the hottest regions of South America. They 
have grinding teeth, which are not drawn out into sharp points, 
but have their crowns marked simply with a longitudinal furrow, 
in accordance with their fruit-eating habits, and their stomach 
(also in accordance with this habit) is much prolonged at its 
pyloric, or more specially digestive, end. 
Certain leaf-nosed bats of South America go by the formidable 
name of vampires, from their reputed blood-sucking habits. 
Although such a habit could only have been attributed erro- 
neously to the entire group, one certain kind of this group is 
very truly blood-sucking, and its organisation is peculiarly and 
very strikingly modified to efficiently subserve this function. 
The bat in question is called Desmoclus , and the truth as to 
its blood-sucking habit has been fully established by the testi- 
mony of Mr. Darwin.* He tells us : “ The vampire bat is 
often the cause of much trouble, by biting the horses on their 
withers. The injury is generally not so much owing to the 
loss of blood, as to the inflammation which the pressure of the 
saddle afterwards produces. The whole circumstance having 
been lately doubted in England, I was therefore fortunate in 
being present when one ( Desmodus cVOrbignyi) was actually 
caught on a horse’s back. We were bivouacking late one 
evening near Coquimbo in Chile, when my servant, noticing 
that one of the horses was very restive, went to see what was the 
matter, and, fancying he could distinguish something, suddenly 
put his hand on the beast’s withers, and secured the vampire. 
In the morning the spot where the bite had been inflicted 
| was easily distinguished from being swollen and bloody. The 
I third day afterwards we rode the horse, without any ill effects.” 
The special modifications of structure which harmonise with 
; this special function are mainly two. First, 
the form of the teeth, and secondly that 
of the stomach. 
I As to the teeth, the grinding ones are 
reduced to a minimum both as to size and 
number ; while the two middle or cutting 
i teeth of the upper jaw are of great size, 
with a sharp cutting edge well fitted to 
inflict the small incision needful for the 
animal’s nourishment. 
As to the stomach, it presents us with 
a structure unique in the animal kingdom. Here it is not 
the pyloric end of the stomach, but the opposite or cardiac end, 
Teeth of the Vampire 
Bat. Desmodus. 
i, cutting-teeth; c, eye- 
teeth. 
* “ Journal of Voyage of Beagle,’’ vol. i. p. 22. 
