21 
ORDER CHIROPTERA^GENUS PHYLLOSTOMA. 
difficulty. D’Azara, who was himself bitten four times, states that the severely, as he was sleeping in the shed next to mine; his great toe 
inhabitants of Paraguay thought but tittle of these attacks, or of the aiii- seemed to have all the attractions. I examined it minutely as he was 
mals which made them. bathing it in the river at day-break. The midnight surgeon had made a 
hole in it, almost of a triangular shape, and the blood was then running 
1. VAMPYRUS SPECTRUM. — COMMON VAMPYRE BAT. from it apace." — (^Walcrton's Wanderings, pp. 179,301.) 
Syn. Vespebtiuo SpEcraett. — Linn. Gmcl. 
PHYLLOsro.MA SpECTBUM GeoflT. Ann. Mus. XV. 174, 186. — Desm. 
Mam. No. 175. 
Vajipykcs SPECTBUII Leach, in Linn. Trans. XIII. 80. 
Le Vampybe Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 117. 
Spectbe Bat Penn. Quadr. 11. .308 Shaw, Zool. I. 143. 
Icon. Geoff. Ann. Mus. XV. pi. J I, fig. head, cran., and teeth. 
Seba, pi. 58. — Sdireb. Saiigth. pi. 45, B. 
SPECIFIC CHABACTERS. 
T HE Hair reddish-brown above ; reddish-ycllow beneath. 
This Vampyre is the Andira-guapu of the Brazilian*!, figured in 
Seba, pi. 58. Its leaf is oval, and hollowed in the shape of a fun- 
nel. This animal comes from South America ; it is reddish-brown, 
and about the size of a Magpie. It has been accused of destroy- 
ing men, and the lower animals, by .sucking their blood, but it 
merely inflicts some very small wounds, which may sometimes be- 
come inflamed by the climate. 
Though much of the .alarm and apprehension which attached to 
this animal, and led Dr Shaw to dilate tipon it as “ a tremendous crea- 
ture, said to be sometimes six feet in extent,” is now removed, vet its 
habits are so peculiar, annoying, and, we may add, destructive, that the 
popular interest with which it is still regarded is not by any means 
surprising. 
We believe it is larger than any of the Fhyllostomes, with which it is 
so closely associated. It is commonly stated to be about nine inches in 
extreme length, from the tip of the nose to the termination of the hind- 
I'eet, and from eighteen inches to two feet in extreme breadth, though Mr 
Waterton informs us he once killed one which measured thirty-two inches 
across, from the tip of one wing to that of the other ; the ears are about 
fourteen lines high ; the nasal leaf six ; the iiiterfemoral membrane nearly 
three inches. The incisor teeth are closely set between the canines ; in 
the upper jaw the two mesial ones are larger than the lateral ; and in the 
lower they are all very small and pushed forward ; the canines are strong ; 
the molars have all the characters of a carnivorous animal. Its physiog- 
nomy is singular, and far from being captivating; its muzzle is long, its 
mouth large, its teeth formidable, and the ears are of great size in length 
and breadth, with a marked operculum ; the nasal leaf is of medium size, 
prolonged from the horse-shoe, without any intervening division ; its 
middle stem is not very thick, and the lateral lobes are rounded, and ter- 
minate somewhat on this side of the point. The alar membranes extend 
from the ankle to the origin of the thumb ; the iiiterfemoral occupies the 
whole sptice included between the limbs; its terminal edge forming a 
salient .angle, shaped, as in a demi-hexagon, the product of three equal 
lines, the two external terminating at the spurs, and the third at that 
part of the membrane which is destitute of support. We need scarcely 
remark, it has no vestige of a tail, though this appendage is conferred 
upon it in some of the older descriptions. The fur is soft, chestnut- 
coloured above, and of a reddish-yellow colour heneath. 
I he whole extent of the South American Continent is usuall)’ assigned 
as the h.abitat of tlie Vampyre, though this probably has arisen from the 
name being applied indiflerently to a number of the” Phyllostomes. That 
it occurs in Guiana seems to admit of no doubt; and in proof of this, 
as well as illustrating its habits and blood-thirsty propensities, we shall 
quote some of Mr Waterton’s interesting remarks. “ As there was a 
free entrance and exit to the Vampyre in the loft where I .slept, 1 had 
many a flue opportunity of paying attention to this nocturnal surgeon. 
He frequents old abandoned houses and hollow trees ; and sometimes a 
cluster of them may be seen in the finest hanging head downwards from 
the branch of a tree ; as stated by Goldsmith 
DOtJBTFUL SPECIES. 
1. Vampyrus sobicinus, (Spix, Sim. et Vespert. Bras. pi. 36, fig. 2 
and 6.) 
The body rather slender ; incisors with a somewhat diverging ape.x ; 
the nose-leaf entire, continuous below and in front with the lip ; the 
lips are undivided, and free from warts ; a few on the chin. 
Frequents the roofs of the houses of Rio Janeiro, and the banks of 
the St Francis. 
2. V. cirrhosus, (Spix, pi. 36, fig. 3.) 
The head somewhat prolonged ; the lips, sides, and lower part of the 
nose-leaf, and especially the chin, studded with warts. 
Habitat not ascertained. 
3. V. niDENS, (Spix, pi. 36, fig. 5.) 
The muzzle acute ; the incisors long ; ears wide spreading ; the fur above 
is brownish-black, beneath mouse-coloured ; the alar membranes are black 
and naked ; the point of the tail perforates the iiiterfemoral membrane 
externally; the spurs are very long, and concave towards the lower mar- 
gin of the membrane, to which they give a bilurcated appearance. 
Inhabits the banks of the St Francis. 
GENUS XI. PHYLLOSTOMA JAVELIN-BATS. 
Sfn. PHYLLOSTOMA, (in part- ) — Gcoflf. Cuv. et al. 
Monophyllus et Artibeus. — Leach, in Linn. Trans. XIII. 
Carollia et Macrophylloxl — Gray, in Mag. Zool. and Bol II. 
Lopiiostoma. — D’Orb. Voy. 
generic characters. 
The Head short and thick. The Muzzle short and broad. 
The Dental Formula ’||+g(||±^;=l£=32. 
(For the other characters, see Vampyrus, p. 23.) 
Among the Javelin- Bats the normal number of incisors is four in 
each jaw, but a part of those in the lower often fall out, expelled 
by the growth of the canines. They are further distinguished by 
their leafy appendage being turned up across the tip of the nose. 
The tragus or operculum of the ear is shaped like a small leaf more 
or less dentated. Their tongue, capable of great extension, is termi- 
natedjby papillm,' wliieli appear to be so arranged as to form an organ 
of suction, and, further, their lips have tubercles symmetrically* ar- 
ranged. These are American animals, which run upon the ground 
with more facility than the other Bats, and (along with the Vam- 
pyres and Long-tongued Bats) are in the habit of sucking the blood 
of animals. 
Having already, under the genus Vampyrus, treated so fully of the 
characters and habits of the Phyllostomes, little additional will be re- 
quired in this place. The alar membranes are of large dimensions, arising 
from the additional phalanx of the middle finger, viz. the unguinal one, 
which, however, has no nail, but a cartilage bent and drawn inwards by 
the membrane. The iiiterfemoral extends across from limb to limb, and 
usually projects outwards ; at the same time this great extent receives 
but an inconsiderable support from the os coccyx. Some of the Fbyl- 
lostomes are destitute of tails ; and among those in which they appear 
they are usually short, and very paitially engaged in the membrane, pierc- 
ing it either above or beneath. 
(A.) Tail-less Javelin-Bats. 
‘ In matted woods, where birds forget to sing, 
And silent Bats in drowsy clusters cling.’ 
“ Some years ago I went to the river Paiimaron with a Scottish gentle- 
man. We hung our hammocks in a thatched loft of a planter’s house. 
Next morning, as soon as there was light enough. 1 went to his hammock, 
and saw it was much stained with blood. On ex.amiiiing his foot, I found 
the Vampyre had tapped his great toe ; there was a wound somewhat 
less than that made by a leech ; the blood was still oozing from it ; I 
conjectured he might have lost from ten to twelve ounces of blood. On 
another occasion, they sucked a young man of the Indian breed very 
1. PHYLLOSTOMA PE RSPICILLATUM.— SPECTACLED 
JAVELIN-BAT. 
Syn. La Lunette — Cuv. Regn. Anim. I. 117. 
Icon. PHYLLOSTOMA PEKSPICILLATUM. — Gcoff. Ann. Mus. XV. pi. 11, (head.) 
D’Orb. Voy. (Mamin.) pi. 9, fig. 7 and 8. 
Grand fer-de-lance Buff. Hist. Nat. Suppl. pi. 74. 
SPECIFIC characters. 
The Hair dark brown above, light brown beneath ; a white band ex- 
tends from the nose to each ear. , • 
