450 
ZOOLOGY OF 
wings of the bat serving, at the same time, to fan the 
patient into a deeper slumber. He several times awoke 
while the bat was at work, and though of com^se the 
creature immediately flew away, it was his impression 
that the operation was conducted in the manner above 
described. Many persons are particularly annoyed by 
bats, while others are free from their attacks. An old 
Mulatto at Guia, on the Upper Uio Negro, was bitten 
almost every night, and though there were frequently 
half-a-dozen other persons in the room, he would be the 
party favoured by their attentions. Once he came to 
us with a doleful countenance, telling us, he thought the 
bats meant to eat him up quite, for, having covered up 
his hands and feet in a blanket, they had descended be- 
neath his hammock of open net-work, and, attacking 
the most prominent part of his person, had bitten him 
through a hole in his trowsers ! We could not help 
laughing at the catastrophe, but to him it was no laugh- 
ing matter. 
Senhor Brandao, of Manaquery, informed me that he 
had once an Indian girl in his house, who was much sub- 
ject to the attacks of the bats. She was at length so 
much weakened by loss of blood, that fears were enter- 
tained of her life, if they continued their attacks ; and it 
was found necessary to send her to a distance, where 
these bloodthirsty animals did not abound. 
The wound made by them is very difficult to heal, 
especially in its usual locality — the tip of the great toe, 
as it generally renders a shoe unbearable for a day or 
two, and forces one to the conclusion that, after the first 
time, for the curiosity of the thing, to be bitten by a bat 
