THE GREAT-EAKED LEAF-BAT. 
295 
All the host were of the same species, and there 
was no perceptible variation in size, but some in 
colour. Many were of a very intense brown, others 
paler and brighter, while one might almost be de- 
scribed as fulvous. One of them had irregular 
patches of white on the breast. As they huddled 
and crawled over each other, they emitted quivering 
squeaks. They all displayed the extraordinary ac- 
tivity mentioned above, preferring to run rather than 
fly, though a few took to wing. In climbing to sus- 
pend themselves they used the thumbs or the hind 
feet indiscriminately. In running along the floor, 
an action which they performed very swiftly, they 
rested on the wrists, elevating the fore parts of the 
body considerably. 
The tongue is large and thick, with the posterior 
half elevated ; the papilim on this portion are large 
and mammillary ; those on the anterior part are 
small. 
In May 1846, my servant caught, in the evening, 
at Belmont House, two of this species, both of which 
were females, and one was pregnant. This was the 
only occasion on which the female came under my 
notice ; its size, form, and colour do not differ from 
those of the male. 
I found this little Molossus infested with a curious 
parasitic insect, a species of Trichodectes, 
THE GREAT-EARED LEAF-BAT. 
One of the most common of the Jamaican Cheiro- 
ptera is the Great-eared Leaf-bat {Macrotus Water- 
