SPECTRE,, AND JAVELIN RAT, 83 
The smell of these creatures is stronger., and 
more rank than that of a fox ; yet the Indians eat 
them., and declare their flesh to be excellent food. 
They become excessively fat at certain times of the 
year, and it is then that they are said to be most 
delicious. The French who reside in the isle of 
Bourbon, boil them in their bouillon, to give it a 
relish ! 
In New Caledonia the natives use the hair of 
these animals in the making of ropes, and in the 
tassels of their clubs ; interweaving it with the 
threads of cyperus squarrossus. 
Spectre bat 
Inhabits South America ; like the former it 
lives in the palm trees, and grows very fat ; it has 
a long nose ; large teeth ; long, broad, upright 
ears ; a conic erect membrane at the end of the 
nose, bending at the end and flexible. The hair 
on its body is cinereous, and pretty long ; the 
wings are full of ramified fibres ; the mem- 
brane extends from hind leg to hind leg. From 
the rump extend three tendons, which terminate 
at the end of the membrane. It is seven inches 
a half long ; extent two feet two. 
Javelin bat 
Has large pointed ears ; an erect membrane at 
the end of the nose, in form of the head of an an- 
tient javelin. It inhabits the warm part of Ame- 
rica ; is of the size of the common bat, and iU 
fur is cinereous. 
