The Bats of British Guiana. 93 
terrible pest, and it was once my experience for several days 
to have under observation, in an exposed district, animals 
that had been rendered quite unsightly by sores and by 
continual bleeding due to bites from these blood-suckers, 
inflicted particularly on the neck, shoulders, back and 
flanks. 
The damage done to fruit by various species of bats is by 
no means inconsiderable, particularly in that they attack 
the more delicate kinds ; and this can hardly be wondered 
at when one remembers that the several species about 
the town and its neighbourhood must be represented by 
large numbers of individuals — enormous numbers in cer- 
tain species, if one may judge by the masses that take 
refuge in the hollow trees, and under the eaves and in 
the turrets of the houses, churches and other buildings. 
The protection of fruit from these creatures is not easily 
dealt with, since it is not often practicable to net the 
trees or fruit. In the Botanic Gardens, it seems to have 
been found of most benefit to place about the fruit trees 
or near the fruit, the spiny leaves or parts of the ' pimpler* 
palms, the sharp and minute needles of which perforate 
the wings of the depredators and thus either disable 
them or frighten them away. (Ward, Timehrt, Vol. iv., 
New Series, 1890, p. 311.) 
Another method which has been mentioned to me, on 
apparently credible authority, as having been found to 
answer perfectly in keeping away all kinds of bats — not 
only fruit-eaters from fruit trees, but also the blood- 
suckers from houses and from stalls in which oxen orhorses 
are kept — consists in hanging plentifully about the trees 
or in the stalls, clear glass bottles filled with clear water. 
Owing to the transparency of the vessels and their con- 
